The role of egg pod foam and rearing conditions of the phase state of the Asian migratory locust Locusta migratoria migratoria (Orthoptera, Acrididae)

Hamouda, Amel Ben; Ammar, M.; Hamouda, Mohamed Habib Ben; Bouaïn, Abderrahmen

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.03.008

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…In the presence of continued crowding, initial shifts in behaviour are followed by more persistent neural remodelling and changes in other characters such as colour, morphology and physiology. There is also evidence, as in the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), that females are able to influence the phase state of their offspring based upon the population density that they or their mates experience (Hamouda et al, 2009(Hamouda et al, , 2011. Females are therefore able to make an adaptive prediction about the population density that their offspring are likely to encounter and influence hatchling phenotype accordingly (Simpson et al, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative migratory locust phenotypes are associated with differences in the expression of genes encoding the methylation machinery

Robinson

Tohidi-Esfahani

Ponton

et al. 2015

Insect Molecular Biology

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Despite the importance of locust density-dependent polyphenism as a model system for understanding phenotypic plasticity, there is still much to be learnt about its underlying molecular control. Here we describe the first investigation into the expression of genes encoding the DNA methylation machinery in the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria). We show that the alternative solitarious and gregarious phenotypic states induced by different locust rearing densities are associated with significant differences in the expression of the target genes DNA methyltransferase 1, DNA methyltransferase 2 and methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2/3. This variation was most pronounced in the embryos of solitarious vs. gregarious mothers. We mapped the embryonic methylation profiles of several intragenic regions and a Long Interspersed Nuclear Element (LINE), each of which is known to be differentially expressed between alternative locust phenotypes or has been directly implicated in phase change. LmI and three genes, adenyl cyclase-associated binding protein 2, choline kinase alpha-like and henna, were methylated. Our results set the stage for future studies investigating the specific role of DNA methylation in the maternal transfer of migratory locust phase polyphenism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%