The dark‐colour‐inducing neurohormone of locusts: strain‐dependent and phase‐independent effects on adults of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria

Abstract

Abstract. An albino strain that had originated from Okinawa, Japan, and a normally coloured strain that had originated from West Africa, were used to study the darkening response to injection of graded doses of dark‐colour‐inducing neurohormone of locusts (DCIN) ([His7]‐corazonin) of gregarious and solitarious adults of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria (L.). By repeated crossings, congenic albinos and normal phenotypes were obtained, both with a 99.6% West African genome, and their darkening response was compared with the original Okinawa and West African strains. Within each of these four strains, no difference was found in DCIN‐induced darkening between gregarious and solitarious adults despite previous publications in the literature claiming an absence of ‘fire‐darkening’ in gregarious adults of this species. Okinawa albino adults showed a markedly higher darkening response than the other three strains, including albinos with a 99.6% West African genome. This finding demonstrates that the differential darkening response of the Okinawa albinos is caused not by albinism, but by the geographical origin (Okinawa) of the strain. This is the first report of geographical‐strain‐dependent differences in the response of an insect to a neurohormone. The darkening response of adults reached a maximum on day 10 after injection; subsequently, the dark colour faded slowly. Adults injected 1 day after their moult showed a greater darkening response than those injected after 14 or 28 days.

The analysis of large-scale gene expression correlated to the phase changes of the migratory locust

“…The transition between the two phases is reversible before they reach the fourth or fifth instar (10). The gregarious traits and behavior are also regulated by pheromones (11,12), neuropeptides (13,14), and pigmentotrophin (15)(16)(17)(18). Even artificial physical stimulation on the hind legs of the desert locust can trigger phase transformation (11).…”