Developmental Mechanisms of Body Size and Wing-Body Scaling in Insects

Nijhout, H. Frederik; Callier, Viviane

doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-020841

Cited by 111 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…It is a defining feature of animals with a rigid exoskeleton, which is split and shed to accommodate serial phases of growth and development (Nijhout & Callier 2015) (Box 2). The process depends on moult-inducing steroids secreted by the prothoracic gland as metabolites of dietary cholesterol (Schwedes & Carney 2012).…”

Section: :3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecdysone is necessary and sufficient to stimulate all stages of the insect moult (Nijhout & Callier 2015). Considering the evolutionary success of arthropods (>1 million species recorded), extending back to the Cambrian period (i.e.…”

Section: :3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the time of writing, well over 400 ecdysteroidal compounds have been detected in over 100 plant families (annual and perennial): ecdysterone being the most widespread (Tarkowská & Strnad 2016). Box 2: The insect moult (Nijhout & Callier 2015).…”

Section: Beyond Buzzymentioning

confidence: 99%

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On gonads and gadflies: the estrus angle

Hillier

2017

Journal of Endocrinology

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The first sex steroid to be crystallized was the vertebrate ovarian hormone, estrone -a less potent metabolite of 17β-estradiol, which in mammals stimulates the female urge to mate (estrus). The gadfly (Greek oistros) lent its name to the process of estrus, as an insect that bites and torments in classical Greek mythology. With the purification and crystallization of a moult-inducing steroid (ecdysone) from insects, an interesting parallel emerged between mating and moulting in lower mammals and arthropods. Ecdysterone (potent ecdysone metabolite) has anabolic effects in mammalian muscle cells that can be blocked by selective estrogen receptor antagonists. Insects utilize ecdysteroids in similar ways that vertebrates use estrogens, including stimulation of oocyte growth and maturation. Ecdysteroids also modify precopulatory insect mating behaviour, further reinforcing the gonad-gadfly/mate-moult analogy.

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Section: :3mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: :3mentioning

confidence: 99%

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On gonads and gadflies: the estrus angle

Hillier

2017

Journal of Endocrinology

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“…In tandem with increasingly detailed identification and characterization of mechanisms shaping body size (12-15), there has been an effort to simplify this complexity for the purposes of generalization and predictability (8,16). Three factors contribute to adult body size and serve as proxies for the endocrine regulation of metamorphosis: larval growth rate, the critical weight that induces metamorphosis, and the interval between the critical weight and cessation of growth (8,(16)(17)(18)(19). The "critical weight" refers to a mass threshold at which the growing larvae becomes committed to metamorphosis physiologically, "growth cessation" occurs when the larva stops feeding and gut purges before pupation, and the interval between the critical weight and growth cessation is the "interval to the cessation of growth," or "terminal growth period" (12, 17, 18, 20).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collectively, variation in these factors explains adult body size variation in Manduca sexta and Drosophila melanogaster, including variation in response to different environmental conditions (21)(22)(23) and selection under laboratory conditions (24)(25)(26). Of the three factors, the critical weight is the most important, representing the decision to commit to metamorphosis (8,19,20), and is thus a central component of understanding size variation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metamorphosis is induced by food absence rather than a critical weight in the solitary bee,Osmia lignaria

Helm

Rinehart

Yocum

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Body size is an important phenotypic trait that correlates with performance and fitness. For determinate growing insects, body size variation is determined by growth rate and the mechanisms that stop growth at the end of juvenile growth. Endocrine mechanisms regulate growth cessation, and their relative timing along development shapes phenotypic variation in body size and development time. Larval insects are generally hypothesized to initiate metamorphosis once they attain a critical weight. However, the mechanisms underlying the critical weight have not been resolved even for well-studied insect species. More importantly, critical weights may or may not be generalizable across species. In this study, we characterized the developmental aspects of size regulation in the solitary bee, Osmia lignaria. We demonstrate that starvation cues metamorphosis in O. lignaria and that a critical weight does not exist in this species. Larvae initiated pupation <24 h after food was absent. However, even larvae fed ad libitum eventually underwent metamorphosis, suggesting that some secondary mechanism regulates metamorphosis when provisions are not completely consumed. We show that metamorphosis could be induced by precocene treatment in the presence of food, which suggests that this decision is regulated through juvenile hormone signaling. Removing food at different larval masses produced a 10-fold difference in mass between smallest and largest adults. We discuss the implications of body size variation for insect species that are provided with a fixed quantity of provisions, including many bees which have economic value as pollinators. insect body size model | critical weight | solitary bees | body size | pollinator B ody size is one of the most striking aspects of variation that occurs both within and among different species. Size correlates with performance and fitness, and their relationships are of central importance in life history theory (1), metabolic theory (2, 3), bioenergetics (4, 5), and ecological and evolutionary physiology (6, 7). For this reason, the developmental basis of size variation is of growing interest, especially common elements that cut across taxa (8). Theoretical and conceptual life history models have hypothesized that developmental thresholds shape patterns of adult size variation (9, 10), and the idea of a sizedependent basis of maturation is pervasive (9, 11).The insect body size model integrates genetic, tissue signaling, and hormonal elements that regulate the developmental basis of adult size variation (12). In tandem with increasingly detailed identification and characterization of mechanisms shaping body size (12-15), there has been an effort to simplify this complexity for the purposes of generalization and predictability (8,16). Three factors contribute to adult body size and serve as proxies for the endocrine regulation of metamorphosis: larval growth rate, the critical weight that induces metamorphosis, and the interval between the critical weight and cessation of growth (8,(16)(17)(18)(...

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Inhibition of fatty acid desaturation impairs cuticle differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster

Wang

Maier

Gehring

et al. 2019

Arch Insect Biochem Physiol

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Previously, we showed that inhibition of the activity of fatty acid desaturases (Desat) perturbs signalling of the developmental timing hormone ecdysone in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. To understand the impact of this effect on cuticle differentiation, a process regulated by ecdysone, we analysed the cuticle of D. melanogaster larvae fed with the Desat inhibitor CA10556. In these larvae, the expression of most of the key cuticle genes is normal or slightly elevated at day one of CA10556 feeding. As an exception, expression of twdlM coding for a yet uncharacterised cuticle protein is completely suppressed. The cuticle of these larvae appears to be normal at the morphological level. However, these animals are sensitive to desiccation, a trait that according to our data, among others, may be associated with reduced TwdlM amounts. At day two of CA10556 feeding, expression of most of the cuticle genes tested including twdlM is suppressed. Expression of cpr47Eb coding for a chitinbinding protein is, by contrast, highly elevated suggesting that Cpr47Eb participates at a specific compensation program. Overall, the cuticle of these larvae is thinner than the cuticle of control larvae. Taken together, lipid desaturation is necessary for a coordinated deployment of a normal cuticle differentiation program. K E Y W O R D S barrier, cuticle, differentiation, epidermis, lipids Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 2019;100:e21535.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arch

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Developmental Mechanisms of Body Size and Wing-Body Scaling in Insects

Cited by 111 publications

References 102 publications

On gonads and gadflies: the estrus angle

On gonads and gadflies: the estrus angle

Metamorphosis is induced by food absence rather than a critical weight in the solitary bee,Osmia lignaria

Inhibition of fatty acid desaturation impairs cuticle differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster

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