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Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

2020

Phenotypic plasticity

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Host Plant Defense Produces Species-Specific Alterations To Flight Muscle Protein Structure And Flight-Related Fitness Traits Of Two Armyworms, Scott L. Portman, Gary W. Felton, Rupesh R. Kariyat, James H. Marden Aug 2020

Host Plant Defense Produces Species-Specific Alterations To Flight Muscle Protein Structure And Flight-Related Fitness Traits Of Two Armyworms, Scott L. Portman, Gary W. Felton, Rupesh R. Kariyat, James H. Marden

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Insects manifest phenotypic plasticity in their development and behavior in response to plant defenses, via molecular mechanisms that produce tissue-specific changes. Phenotypic changes might vary between species that differ in their preferred hosts and these effects could extend beyond larval stages. To test this,we manipulated the diet of southern armyworm(SAW; Spodoptera eridania) and fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda) using a tomato mutant for jasmonic acid plant defense pathway (def1), and wild-type plants, and then quantified gene expression of Troponin t (Tnt) and flightmusclemetabolismof the adult insects. Differences in Tnt spliceform ratios in insect flight muscles correlate with changes to flight …


No Water, No Problem: Stage-Specific Metabolic Responses To Dehydration Stress In Annual Killifish Embryos, Daniel E. Zajic, Jonathon P. Nicholson, Jason Podrabsky Aug 2020

No Water, No Problem: Stage-Specific Metabolic Responses To Dehydration Stress In Annual Killifish Embryos, Daniel E. Zajic, Jonathon P. Nicholson, Jason Podrabsky

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Annual killifish survive in temporary ponds by producing drought-tolerant embryos that can enter metabolic dormancy (diapause). Survival of dehydration stress is achieved through severe reduction of evaporative water loss. We assessed dehydration stress tolerance in diapausing and developing embryos. We measured oxygen consumption rates under aquatic and aerial conditions to test the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between water retention and oxygen permeability. Diapausing embryos survive dehydrating conditions for over 1.5 years, and post-diapause stages can survive over 100 days. Diapausing embryos respond to dehydration stress by increasing oxygen consumption rates while post-diapause embryos exhibit the same or reduced …