Gas Exchange Models for a Flexible Insect Tracheal System

Simelane, Simphiwe; Abelman, Shirley; Duncan, Frances D.

doi:10.1007/s10441-016-9278-z

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In particular, closely related species living in divergent altitude environments provide natural model systems that could be used to explore adaptive mechanisms of organisms to different altitudes. During the past decade, the genetic basis of adaptation to high altitude habitats on the TP has been well documented in many vertebrates, including mammals 8 – 14 , reptiles 15 , 16 , birds 17 , amphibians 4 and fishes 5 , 18 , 19 ; however, the exploration of high-altitude adaptation in insects has only been conducted for the migratory locust by analyzing gene expression and mitochondrial enzyme activity 20 – 22 . Currently, how the TP insects adapt to divergent high-altitude environments is still poor understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Tibetan Gynaephora to explore the genetic basis of insect adaptation to divergent altitude environments

Zhang

Yang

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Adaptation of insects to different altitudes remain largely unknown, especially those endemic to the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Here, we generated the transcriptomes of Gynaephora menyuanensis and G. alpherakii, inhabiting different high altitudes on the TP, and used these and the previously available transcriptomic and genomic sequences from low-altitude insects to explore potential genetic basis for divergent high-altitude adaptation in Gynaephora. An analysis of 5,869 orthologous genes among Gynaephora and other three low-altitude insects uncovered that fast-evolving genes and positively selected genes (PSGs) in the two Gynaephora species were enriched in energy metabolism and hypoxia response categories (e.g. mitochondrion, oxidation-reduction process, and response to oxidative stress). Particularly, mTOR signaling pathway involving hypoxia was enriched by PSGs, indicating this well-known pathway in mammal hypoxia adaptation may be an important signaling system in Gynaephora. Furthermore, some PSGs were associated with response to hypoxia (e.g. cytochrome proteins), cold (e.g. dehydrogenase) and DNA repair (e.g. DNA repair proteins). Interestingly, several insect-specific genes that were associated with exoskeleton and cuticle development (e.g. chitinase and ecdysteroids) had experienced positive selection, suggesting the specific adaptive mechanisms in insects. This study is favourable for understanding the adaptive evolution of Gynaephora and even TP insects to divergent altitudes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Tibetan Gynaephora to explore the genetic basis of insect adaptation to divergent altitude environments

Zhang

Yang

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…Although we recognise that gas flux in the tracheoles might have greater complexity than we have indicated here [43], our modelling and empirical data provide an initial demonstration of why tracheal network architecture in ants follows Nunome's pattern. Our data for the more proximal tracheal branches also show that such branching patterns are not simply restricted to more distal elements of the system as suggested recently [38].…”

Section: Plos Computational Biologymentioning

confidence: 60%

Tracheal branching in ants is area-decreasing, violating a central assumption of network transport models

et al. 2020

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The structure of tubular transport networks is thought to underlie much of biological regularity, from individuals to ecosystems. A core assumption of transport network models is either area-preserving or area-increasing branching, such that the summed cross-sectional area of all child branches is equal to or greater than the cross-sectional area of their respective parent branch. For insects, the most diverse group of animals, the assumption of area-preserving branching of tracheae is, however, based on measurements of a single individual and an assumption of gas exchange by diffusion. Here we show that ants exhibit neither area-preserving nor area-increasing branching in their abdominal tracheal systems. We find for 20 species of ants that the sum of child tracheal cross-sectional areas is typically less than that of the parent branch (area-decreasing). The radius, rather than the area, of the parent branch is conserved across the sum of child branches. Interpretation of the tracheal system as one optimized for the release of carbon dioxide, while readily catering to oxygen demand, explains the branching pattern. Our results, together with widespread demonstration that gas exchange in insects includes, and is often dominated by, convection, indicate that for generality, network transport models must include consideration of systems with different architectures.

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“…These extend beyond simply understanding a localized phenomenon Ignored mechanisms producing DGC. Simelane et al (2016) as they may provide insights into how animals can tune respiratory gas exchange to meet aerobic cellular demands while understanding potential physiological or fitness costs of different solutions to a common problem (energy homeostasis) (see e.g. Tsai et al, 2008).…”

Section: Proximate Explanations Of Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do models of insect respiratory patterns fail?

Terblanche

Woods

2018

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Insects exchange respiratory gases using an astonishing diversity of patterns. Of these, discontinuous gas exchange cycles (DGCs) have received the most study, but there are many other patterns exhibited intraspecifically and interspecifically. Moreover, some individual insects transition between patterns based on poorly understood combinations of internal and external factors. Why have biologists failed, so far, to develop a framework capable of explaining this diversity? Here, we propose two answers. The first is that the framework will have to be simultaneously general and highly detailed. It should describe, in a universal way, the physical and chemical processes that any insect uses to exchange gases through the respiratory system (i.e. tracheal tubes and spiracles) while simultaneously containing enough morphological, physiological and neural detail that it captures the specifics of patterns exhibited by any species or individual. The second difficulty is that the framework will have to provide ultimate, evolutionary explanations for why patterns vary within and among insects as well as proximate physiological explanations for how different parts of the respiratory system are modified to produce that diversity. Although biologists have made significant progress on all of these problems individually, there has been little integration among approaches. We propose that renewed efforts be undertaken to integrate across levels and approaches with the goal of developing a new class of general, flexible models capable of explaining a greater fraction of the observed diversity of respiratory patterns.

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Gas Exchange Models for a Flexible Insect Tracheal System

Cited by 9 publications

References 54 publications

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Tibetan Gynaephora to explore the genetic basis of insect adaptation to divergent altitude environments

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Tibetan Gynaephora to explore the genetic basis of insect adaptation to divergent altitude environments

Tracheal branching in ants is area-decreasing, violating a central assumption of network transport models

Why do models of insect respiratory patterns fail?

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