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46 results for “flour beetle”

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dryad28/100

Data from: Experimental evolution of external immune defenses in the red flour beetle

The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, secretes quinones that control the microbial flora in the surrounding environment. These secretions act as an external immune defence that provides protection against pathogens. At high concentrations, however, these secretions are harmful to the host itself, and selection may thus have optimized the level of expression under natural conditions. Here, we show that the expression of external immunity responded to selection during experimental evolution within a few generations. At the same time, one component of internal immune defence (phenoloxidase activity) was compromised in beetles selected for either high or low external defences. Intriguingly, offspring protection against a natural pathogen was reduced in flour obtained from beetle lines selected for low amounts of secretions. Altogether, this suggests that external and internal immune defences work together efficiently under natural conditions, whereas every manipulation on the side of external immune defence comes with costs to the internal immune defence.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

dryad28/100

Data from: High temperature intensifies negative density dependence of fitness in red flour beetles

Competition for food, space, or other depletable resources has strong impacts on the fitness of organisms and can lead to a pattern known as negative density dependence, where fitness decreases as population density increases. Yet, many resources that have strong impacts on fitness are nondepletable (e.g., moisture or temperature). How do these nondepletable resources interact with depletable resources to modify negative density dependence? We tested the hypothesis that negative density dependence is modulated by temperature in red flour beetles and tested the prediction that the strength of negative density dependence should decrease as temperature decreases. We measured the number of eggs laid, offspring development time, and the number of offspring that reached maturity at three temperatures and two food treatment combinations as we simultaneously manipulated adult population density. We demonstrated that low temperatures weaken negative density dependence in the number of eggs laid; this pattern was most evident when food was abundant. Density had no effect on development time, but low temperatures increased development time. The percent of eggs that emerged as adults decreased with both density and temperature and increased with food. Temperature, an abiotic driver, can thus modulate density-dependent processes in ectotherms. Therefore, models of population growth for ectotherms should incorporate the effects of temperature.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

dryad28/100

Data from: Contribution of cell proliferation to axial elongation in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum

Most arthropods generate their posterior bodies by adding segments periodically, as the embryo grows, from a posteriorly located region called the segment addition zone. This mode of segmentation is shared with vertebrates and relies on oscillatory mechanisms, where the temporal periodicity of a clock is translated into repetitive spatial patterns. This ordered anterior-to-posterior pattern is achieved at the same time as the tissue elongates, opening the question of the functional coordination between the mechanisms of segmental patterning and posterior growth. The study of these processes in different arthropods has played an important role in unravelling some of the molecular mechanisms of segment formation. However, the behavior of cells during elongation and how cellular processes affect this segmental patterning has been poorly studied. Cell proliferation together with cell rearrangements are presumed to be the major forces driving axis elongation in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. However, there still no strong evidence about the role and distribution of cell proliferation within the embryo. In this study, we propose to address these questions by using whole embryo cultures and pharmacological manipulation. We show that considerable cell proliferation occurs during germband elongation, measured by incorporation of the nucleoside analog of thymidine 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine, EdU. Moreover, proliferating cells appeared to be spread along the elongating embryo with a posterior bias at early segmentation. In addition, when we blocked cell division, treated germbands were always shorter than controls and in some cases not able to fully elongate, even when control embryos already started to retract and leg buds are evident. Finally, we found that the absence of cell proliferation has no apparent effect on segmental patterning, as evidenced by Tc-engrailed (Tc-en) gene expression.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

dryad28/100

Data from: Functional traits in red flour beetles: the dispersal phenotype is associated with leg length but not body size nor metabolic rate

Individuals vary in their ability to disperse. Much of this variation can be described by covarying phenotypic traits that are related to dispersal (constituting the 'dispersal phenotype' or 'dispersal syndrome'), but the nature of the associations among these traits is not well understood. Unravelling the associations among traits that potentially constitute the dispersal phenotype provides a foundation for understanding evolutionary trade-offs due to variation in dispersal. Here, we tested five predictions pertaining to the relationships among physiological, morphological and movement traits that are associated with dispersal, using a species with a long history as a laboratory model for studying ecological phenomena, red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum). We identified a dominant axis of movement ability that describes variation in dispersal-related movement traits. Individuals that scored positively on this axis moved at higher speed, travelled longer distances, had lower movement intermittency and dispersed quicker to a specified area. Relative leg length, but not body size nor routine metabolic rate related positively with movement ability, indicating a likely mechanistic relationship between increased stride length and movement ability. Our data suggest that the dispersal phenotype may be more strongly linked to morphological traits than physiological ones. We demonstrate that associations among many functional traits do not necessarily conform to a priori expectations, and predict that the substantial intraspecific variation in trait values may be important for selection. Movement is a complex behavioural trait, but it has a mechanistic basis in locomotor morphology that warrants further exploration.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

dryad28/100

Data from: The within-host dynamics of infection in trans-generationally primed flour beetles

Many taxa exhibit plastic immune responses initiated after primary microbial exposure that provide increased protection against disease-induced mortality and the fitness costs of infection. In several arthropod species, this protection can even be passed from parents to offspring through a phenomenon called trans-generational immune priming. Here, we first demonstrate that trans-generational priming is a repeatable phenomenon in flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) primed and infected with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). We then quantify the within-host dynamics of microbes and host physiological responses in infected offspring from primed and unprimed mothers by monitoring bacterial density and using mRNA-seq to profile host gene expression, respectively, over the acute infection period. We find that priming increases inducible resistance against Bt around a critical temporal juncture where host septicaemic trajectories, and consequently survival, may be determined in unprimed individuals. Our results identify a highly differentially expressed biomarker of priming, containing an EIF4-e domain, in uninfected individuals, as well as several other candidate genes. Moreover, the induction and decay dynamics of gene expression over time suggest a metabolic shift in primed individuals. The identified bacterial and gene expression dynamics are likely to influence patterns of bacterial fitness and disease transmission in natural populations.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

zenodo28/100

Fig. 1 in Effect of temperature on two bio-insecticides for the control of confused flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Fig. 1. Mortality of Tribolium confusum larvae exposed to Beauveria bassiana (large dash), spinosad (solid line), and control (small dash) at 8, 16, 22, and 25 °C. Vertical error bars depict the residual SE of the mean.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2016View details →

dryad28/100

Carcass scavenging relaxes chemical-driven female interference competition in flour beetles

Female-female nonsexual interference competition is a major fitness determinant of biased sex-ratio groups with high female density. What strategies can females use to overcome the negative impact of this competition? We used flour beetle Tribolium castaneum to answer this question, where competing females from female-biased groups were already known to suppress each other's fecundity by secreting toxic quinones from their stink glands, indicating a unique chemical-driven interference competition. Surprisingly, increasing resources did not alleviate these fitness costs. Females also did not disperse more from the site of interference competition. Hence, the competition was neither influenced by the total resource availability nor the lack of opportunity to avoid chemical interference. Instead, protein sequestered via scavenging of nutrient-rich carcasses relaxed female competition, by increasing their fecundity and reducing the quinone content. Finally, stink gland components themselves triggered carcass-scavenging and increased fecundity, indicating the possibility of a novel chemical-driven feedback loop to reduce the competition. Taken together, in the present work, we could provide the rare analyses where multiple competing hypotheses were jointly tested to establish carcass-scavenging as an important potential strategy to overcome the fitness costs of intrasexual female interference competition.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

dryad28/100