Metabolic Changes during Acclimation and Hardening to Heat and Drought Stress in <i>Zaprionus indianus</i>

The survival ability of insects can be limited with the changes in the levels of energy metabolites under stressful conditions but only a few studies have considered the plastic effects of heat and related climatic factors relevant to tropical habitats. The objectives of our study were to determine whether adults of Zaprionus indianus are capable of rapid heat hardening (RHH) and rapid desiccation hardening (RDH) and to compare its benefits with heat acclimation (HA) and desiccation acclimation (DA). Adult flies reared under season-specific simulated conditions were subjected to 38°C for RHH and 32°C for HA, while 5% relative humidity (RH) was maintained for RDH and 40% RH for DA. Stress-induced effects of heat and desiccation on the levels of five metabolites namely cuticular lipids (CL), total body lipids (TBL), protein, proline, and carbohydrates were then estimated by biochemical method. Different duration of heat hardening and acclimation led to more accumulation of CL whereas different durations of desiccation hardening and acclimation revealed less accumulation. In contrast, there was an accumulation of carbohydrates and protein under desiccation hardening and acclimation whereas there was the utilization of carbohydrates and protein under heat hardening and acclimation. However, mixed results were observed on the level of proline and TBL under both heat and desiccation stress. These stress-triggered changes in the levels of various metabolites suggest a possible link between heat and desiccation tolerance. Hence, these compensatory changes in the level of various metabolites also suggest possible energetic homeostasis in Z. indianus living under harsh climatic conditions of heat and drought in tropical regions.

高桥氏果蝇表型频率变化和胁迫相关性状的分析:季节性适应研究(英文)

【目的】昆虫中经常可见体色变化,但是关于其作用价值了解甚少。高桥氏果蝇Drosophila takahashii在遗传上表现出腹部黑化的不连续变化。为了测定生理性状是否可能受黑化的影响,我们调查了3个不同色型个体腹部黑化的变化和胁迫相关性状,检验了季节性环境条件将增强相应的季节性表型的适应性这一假说。【方法】从不同海拔地点采集高桥氏果蝇,对深色和浅色纯育品系的遗传杂交进行的孟德尔分析证实存在一个主要位点,为D等位基因显性。对种群以及3种色型果蝇的生理生态学性状进行了统计分析。【结果】在旱季观察到深色等位基因频率的显著增加,在雨季会出现体色较浅的果蝇,这说明气候选择起着重要作用。不过,在这两个季节中体色居中的果蝇均很多。中间色型的果蝇由于适应而表现出所有性状的F值均显著增加(P<0.001),但在深色和浅色纯育品系中未观察到这类适应效果(P≥0.42)。【结论】通过不同性状的测定结果我们提出,在干冷胁迫条件下,在深色型中观察到显著更高的生理学耐性;而在湿热条件下,在浅色型中观察到显著更高的生理学耐性。有意思的是,中间表型在这两种条件下均有较强的适应能力。而且,我们发现温湿度的季节性改变给胁迫相关的性状施加了选择压力。

Adaptive associations between total body color dimorphism and climatic stress-related traits in a stenothermal circumtropical Drosophila species

Low desiccation resistance of Drosophila ananassae reflects its rarity outside the humid tropics. However, the ability of this sensitive species to evolve under seasonally varying subtropical areas is largely unknown. D. ananassae flies are mostly lighter during the rainy season but darker and lighter flies occur in the autumn season in northern India. We tested the hypothesis whether seasonally varying alternative body color phenotypes of D. ananassae vary in their levels of environmental stress tolerances and mating behavior. Thus, we investigated D. ananassae flies collected during rainy and autumn seasons for changes in body melanization and their genetic basis, desiccation-related traits, cold tolerance and mating propensity. On the basis of genetic crosses, we found total body color dimorphism consistent with a single gene model in both sexes olD. ananassae. A significant increase in the frequency of the dark morph was observed during the drier autumn season, and body color phenotypes showed significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which suggests climatic selection plays a role. Resistance to desiccation as well as cold stress were two- to three-fold higher in the dark body color strain as compared with the light strain. On the basis of no-choice mating experiments, we observed significantly higher assortative matings between dark morphs under desiccation or cold stress, and between light morphs under hot or higher humidity conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the ecological significance of seasonally varying total body color dimorphism in a tropical species, D. ananassae.