Abstract
BackgroundOrganisms may develop into multiple phenotypes under different nutritional environments by developmental plasticity, whereas the potential costs and mechanisms of such plasticity are poorly understood. Here we examined the fitness and gene expression of nutrition-induced phenotypes in the ladybeetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri after having experienced varying larval food regimes.ResultsWe found that C. montrouzieri adults undergoing a variable larval food regime achieved a similar developmental time, survival, body mass and egg production as those undergoing a high larval food regime. The survival, developmental time, body mass and fecundity of the adults from a restricted larval food regime were inferior to those from the high and variable larval food regimes. However, the adults from this restricted larval food regime had a higher expression level of genes encoding immune- and antioxidant-related enzymes than those from the high and variable larval food regimes when exposed to starvation and pesticide conditions in adult life.ConclusionsThese results suggest that larval food availability in C. montrouzieri not only triggers adult phenotypic differences but also affects reproduction and expression level of genes in adult life, indicating that the larval nutritional conditions can affect adult fitness and resistance to stressful conditions through developmental plasticity.
Highlights
Organisms may develop into multiple phenotypes under different nutritional environments by developmental plasticity, whereas the potential costs and mechanisms of such plasticity are poorly understood
The environmental conditions organisms experienced in their early life stages predict what conditions they will encounter in later life and allow them to adapt to such conditions by developmental plasticity [2, 14]
Our findings indicate that the adult fitness of the ladybeetle C. montrouzieri is affected by larval nutritional conditions through developmental plasticity
Summary
Organisms may develop into multiple phenotypes under different nutritional environments by developmental plasticity, whereas the potential costs and mechanisms of such plasticity are poorly understood. Developmental plasticity is an adaptive process that gives rise to multiple phenotypes under different environmental conditions [1,2,3]. Organismal phenotypes adaptably vary in response to external environments, resulting in changes in body size, color or wing pattern [7,8,9]. To better match the phenotypes and selective environments, organisms adapt to the environmental conditions under which they live in by altering their behavior, physiology or morphology. The environmental conditions organisms experienced in their early life stages predict what conditions they will encounter in later life and allow them to adapt to such conditions by developmental plasticity [2, 14].
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