The influence of symbiotic bacteria on reproductive strategies and wing polyphenism in pea aphids responding to stress

0503830 - BC 2020 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Reyes, M. L. - Laughton, A. M. - Parker, B. J. - Wichmann, H. - Fan, M. - Sok, D. - Hrček, Jan - Acevedo, T. - Gerardo, N. M.
The influence of symbiotic bacteria on reproductive strategies and wing polyphenism in pea aphids responding to stress.
Journal of Animal Ecology. Roč. 88, č. 4 (2019), s. 601-611. ISSN 0021-8790. E-ISSN 1365-2656
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : environmental stressors * life history * pea aphid
OECD category: Reproductive biology (medical aspects to be 3)
Impact factor: 4.554, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12942

Environmental stressors can be key drivers of phenotypes, including reproductive strategies and morphological traits.The response to stress may be altered by the presence of microbial associates. For example, in aphids, facultative (secondary) bacterial symbionts can provide protection against natural enemies and stress induced by elevated temperatures. Furthermore, aphids exhibit phenotypic plasticity, producing winged (rather than wingless) progeny that may be better able to escape danger, and the combination of these factors improve the response to stress. How symbionts and phenotypic plasticity, both of which shape aphids' stress response, influence one another, and together influence host fitness, remains unclear. All environmental stressors resulted in increased production of winged offspring and shifts in fecundity rates. Additionally, in some cases, aphid host-by-symbiont interactions influenced fecundity. Stress on first generation aphids had cross-generational impacts on second generation adults, and the impact on fecundity was further influenced by the presence of secondary symbionts and presence/absence of wings. Our study suggests a complex interaction between beneficial symbionts and environmental stressors. Winged aphids have the advantage of being able to migrate out of danger with more ease, but energy needed for wing production and maintenance may come with reproductive costs for their mothers and for themselves, where in certain cases, these costs are altered by secondary symbionts.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0296830