Eggshell Biliverdin as an Antioxidant Maternal Effect

Morales, Judith

doi:10.1002/bies.202000010

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…The transportation or deposition system in the oviduct may not always be active at the same level, but it may need to be activated when the first egg is being produced, being slightly and gradually faded out towards the end of egg laying. This may also suggest that the pigment is limited in its availability (Butler et al 2017, Morales 2020), but not in a linear way.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies (Soler et al 2008, Rivers et al 2017) showed that handicapped females invested more in the reproduction at the cost of self‐maintenance. In a recent essay, Morales (2020) proposed that biliverdin deposited in the eggshell could act as an antioxidant supply, as biliverdin would permeate through the calcified layers and the inner membrane of the eggs during embryo development, bolstering its development. If this is the case, the deposition of biliverdin in the eggshell can be seen as a reproductive investment in itself and handicapped females would have secured the healthy development of their offspring rather than maintaining their own body condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimentally impaired female condition does not affect biliverdin‐based egg colour

D'Arpa

Redondo

Gómez-Llanos

et al. 2022

Journal of Avian Biology

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It has been proposed that blue-green egg coloration is a condition-dependent female sexual trait that may modify paternal care in a post-mating sexual selection scenario. This pattern may arise because the pigment responsible for eggshell colouration (biliverdin) may be a costly and limited resource, whose availability is linked to female health state. Thus, it can be predicted that females whose condition is compromised should be constrained in their capacity to deposit biliverdin in the eggshell, thus producing paler clutches. To test this hypothesis, we performed a handicapping experiment by clipping some feathers of female spotless starlings before egg laying and measuring the colour of their clutches. We expected the handicapping treatment to increase flying costs, impairing female overall condition and resulting in paler clutches. Our experiment was successful in lowering the weight gain of handicapped with respect to control females. However, in contrast to our expectations, we found no effect of the treatment on eggshell colouration. Eggshell colour varied along the laying order, with initial eggs of the laying sequence being relatively paler than the rest of the clutch, but this pattern was not different between experimental groups. Despite a very similar methodology, our results differ from a previous study on the same species and offer no support to the post mating sexual selected hypothesis, questioning the general applicability of the sexual selection role of eggshell coloration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimentally impaired female condition does not affect biliverdin‐based egg colour

D'Arpa

Redondo

Gómez-Llanos

et al. 2022

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…These substances are generated through the metabolism of the hemo group. 23,24 BV and PP have been reported as being antiradical and antibacterial. As antiradical, one of the mechanisms that explain the ability to prevent oxidative stress is the electron transfer.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metals Can Change the Colors of Eggshells but How Is This Related to Oxidative Stress and Antibacterial Capacity?

Martínez,

López-Rull

2024

ACS Omega

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Two main substances are responsible for the pigmentation of the eggshells of birds and reptiles: the bluishgreen tone comes from biliverdin (BV), and protoporphyrin IX (PP) gives brown hues. BV and PP can form complexes with metal cations. The main objective of this investigation is to carry out a theoretical study that analyzes the interaction of metal cations (Cu 2+ , Ag 2+ , Au 2+ , Cd 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Hg 2+ ) with BV and PP. The divalent metal ions of Cu and Ag are selected to have compounds with the same charge. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate the antiradical capacity of these systems and to obtain ultraviolet−visible (UV−vis) spectra to analyze color modifications. Antiradical capacity is one of the mechanisms that prevents oxidative stress. The antibacterial capacity was investigated through the formation of triplet states. From our results, we can conclude that metal cations interacting with BV and PP affect the electron donor−acceptor properties of the systems, modify coloration of the eggshell, and increase the photoactivating capacity of pigments, which is related to their antimicrobial action. Electron transfer is an important mechanism of antioxidant defense. These results provide useful information on both the influence of contaminants such as heavy metals on the antimicrobial capacity of natural pigments and the signaling value of eggshell coloration.

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“…Maternal effect is defined as the causal influence of the maternal phenotype on the offspring phenotype in other ways than the direct transmission of genetic information (Mousseau & Fox, 1998; Wolf & Wade, 2009). Mechanisms of maternal effects are diverse and include the direct transfer of maternal resources and other substances, such as hormones, antioxidants, antibodies, transcripts (mRNA) and even mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copies (Boulinier & Staszewski, 2008; Fernández‐Díez et al, 2016; Groothuis et al, 2019; Kim et al, 2022; Morales, 2020). Studying how the maternal allocation changes with maternal age at reproduction should help our understanding of maternal effect senescence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal effect senescence via reduced DNA repair ability in the three‐spined stickleback

et al. 2023

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In many species of animals and plants, survival rate and fertility decrease with advancing age due to senescence. Evolutionary theory explains senescence as a result of age-related declines in the strength of natural selection (Hamilton, 1966), which allow the accumulation of mutations deleterious to late-life performances (Medawar, 1952) and even promote active selection of alleles with deleterious effects in late life but beneficial pleiotropic effects in early life (Williams, 1957). It is well known that advanced maternal age negatively affects not only performance of the mothers, but also health, lifespan and fertility of their offspring in many animal species, including humans ('Lansing effect ': Lansing, 1947;Monaghan et al., 2020). This is mainly due to 'maternal effect senescence',

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Eggshell Biliverdin as an Antioxidant Maternal Effect

Abstract: Subtitle: Eggshell biliverdin as an antioxidant resource in oviparous animals Article type: Hypotheses Author contribution: JM conceived the research and wrote the paper. Data availability statement: No data was used.

Cited by 14 publications

References 70 publications

Experimentally impaired female condition does not affect biliverdin‐based egg colour

Experimentally impaired female condition does not affect biliverdin‐based egg colour

Metals Can Change the Colors of Eggshells but How Is This Related to Oxidative Stress and Antibacterial Capacity?

Maternal effect senescence via reduced DNA repair ability in the three‐spined stickleback

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