The green-brown polymorphism of the club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus is heritable and appears genetically simple

Schielzeth, Holger; Dieker, Petra

doi:10.1186/s12862-020-01630-7

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The results on the inheritance of the green versus brown color variant reported here match with other studies on gomphocerine grasshoppers (Table 1 ), in which a single major autosomal locus seems to determine the presence of green body color. In three species from the closer sibship of the genus Chorthippus , Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) brunneus (Gill 1981 ), Gomphocerus sibiricus (Schielzeth and Dieker 2020 ), and Chorthippus dorsatus (this study), there is strong evidence for the green allele being dominant over the brown allele(s). For the more distantly related Pseudochorthippus parallelus (Shah et al 2020 ), the mechanism is less clear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…However, these patterns might be caused by phenological differences or differential mortality rather than phenotypic plasticity. In contrast to the limited evidence for environmental color determination in Gomphocerine, there is strong evidence that the green color is heritable and controlled by simple Mendelian loci in three different species (Gill 1981 ; Sansome and La Cour 1935 ; Schielzeth and Dieker 2020 ) (Table 1 ). We here present new data on the inheritance of color morphs in another species of Gomphocerinae and summarize published data in light of the green–brown determination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus

2021

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The green–brown polymorphism of grasshoppers and bush-crickets represents one of the most penetrant polymorphisms in any group of organisms. This poses the question of why the polymorphism is shared across species and how it is maintained. There is mixed evidence for whether and in which species it is environmentally or genetically determined in Orthoptera. We report breeding experiments with the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus, a polymorphic species for the presence and distribution of green body parts. Morph ratios did not differ between sexes, and we find no evidence that the rearing environment (crowding and habitat complexity) affected the polymorphism. However, we find strong evidence for genetic determination for the presence/absence of green and its distribution. Results are most parsimoniously explained by three autosomal loci with two alleles each and simple dominance effects: one locus influencing the ability to show green color, with a dominant allele for green; a locus with a recessive allele suppressing green on the dorsal side; and a locus with a recessive allele suppressing green on the lateral side. Our results contribute to the emerging contrast between the simple genetic inheritance of green–brown polymorphisms in the subfamily Gomphocerinae and environmental determination in other subfamilies of grasshoppers. In three out of four species of Gomphocerinae studied so far, the results suggest one or a few loci with a dominance of alleles allowing the occurrence of green. This supports the idea that brown individuals differ from green individuals by homozygosity for loss-of-function alleles preventing green pigment production or deposition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus

2021

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“…Phenotypic plasticity has been shown to have direct links to different drivers within the environment, most importantly, temperature and genetic drivers [33,34]. Phenotypic plasticity is mostly expressed as morphological differences within individuals of a species, referred to as morphs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic Plasticity of Common Wasps in an Industrially Polluted Environment in Southwestern Finland

Badejo

Skaldina

Peräniemi

et al. 2021

Insects

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Insects vary in the degree of their adaptability to environmental contamination. Determining the responses with phenotypic plasticity in ecologically important species in polluted environments will ease further conservation and control actions. Here, we investigated morphological characteristics such as body size, body mass, and color of the common wasp Vespula vulgaris in an industrially polluted environment, considering different levels of metal pollution, and we studied the localization of contaminants in the guts of wasps. We revealed some differences in morphological characteristics and melanization of wasps collected in habitats with high, moderate, and low levels of pollution. The results indicated that V. vulgaris from highly polluted environments had reduced melanin pigmentation on the face but increased melanin pigmentation on the 2nd tergite of the abdomen. In addition, with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), we found metal particles from the midgut of wasps originating from the polluted environment. Most of the particles were encapsulated with melanin pigment. This finding confirmed that in wasps, ingested metal particles are accumulated in guts and covered by melanin layers. Our data suggest that wasps can tolerate metal contamination but respond phenotypically with modification of their size, coloration, and probably with the directions of the melanin investments (immunity or coloration). Thus, in industrially polluted areas, wasps might probably survive by engaging phenotypic plasticity with no significant or visible impact on the population.

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“…Also, polymorphic species are almost universally present in groups that contain green as well as brown species. Third, breeding data suggest a dominant inheritance of the green variant at least in gomphocerine grasshoppers (Gill 1981b;Schielzeth and Dieker 2020;Winter et al 2021). Some species are phenotypically plastic and can facultatively switch between the presence and absence of green colors (see discussion below).…”

Section: A Role Of Biased Mutationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…My main focus, however, is on the question if the green-brown polymorphism arises primarily from in brown species or in green species. Data from species of gomphocerine grasshoppers suggest that the polymorphism is determined by one or few genes with a green allele being dominant over a brown allele (Gill 1981b;Schielzeth and Dieker 2020;Winter et al 2021), which suggest a role of loss-of-function mutations. I therefore evaluate the relative abundance of green and brown morphs as well as associations of polymorphic species with brown or green species within clades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic, geographic and habitat distribution of the green-brown polymorphism in European orthopterans

Schielzeth

2020

Preprint

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The green-brown polymorphism among polyneopteran insects represents one of the most penetrant color polymorphism in any group of organisms. Yet systematic overviews are lacking. I here present analyses of the phylogenetic, geographic and habitat distribution of the green-brown polymorphisms across the complete European Orthopteran fauna. Overall, 30% of European Orthopterans are green-brown polymorphic (36% when excluding crickets and cave crickets). Polymorphic species are scattered across the entire phylogenetic tree, including roughly equal proportions of Ensifera and Caelifera. Some taxonomic groups, however, include only brown species. Polymorphic species occur more frequently in clades that contain green species than in those without green species. The relative abundance of color morphs in polymorphic species is skewed towards green, and in particular rare/exceptional brown morphs are more common in predominantly green species than rare/exceptional green morphs in predominantly brown species. Polymorphic species are particularly common in moist to mesic grasslands. Alpine and arboreal habitats also host high proportions of polymorphic species, while dry, open, rocky and cave habitats as well as nocturnal lifestyles are dominated by brown species. The proportion of polymorphic species increases from southern to northern latitudes. The results show that the occurrence of the polymorphisms is phylogenetically, geographically and ecologically widespread. The patterns suggest that polymorphic populations might arise from green species by loss-of-function mutations, and the overall distributions is possibly even consistent with mutation-selection balance. This would imply a rather high rate of loss of the functional green pigmentation pathway. However, marked habitat-dependencies also show that coloration is affected by natural selection and/or environmental filtering.

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The green-brown polymorphism of the club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus is heritable and appears genetically simple

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus

Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus

Phenotypic Plasticity of Common Wasps in an Industrially Polluted Environment in Southwestern Finland

Phylogenetic, geographic and habitat distribution of the green-brown polymorphism in European orthopterans

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