| 1. |
- Ah-King, Malin, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Sex in an Evolutionary Perspective : Just Another Reaction Norm
- 2010
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Ingår i: Evolutionary biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0071-3260 .- 1934-2845. ; 37:4, s. 234-246
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is common to refer to all sorts of clear-cut differences between the sexes as something that is biologically almost inevitable. Although this does not reflect the status of evolutionary theory on sex determination and sexual dimorphism, it is probably a common view among evolutionary biologists as well, because of the impact of sexual selection theory. To get away from thinking about biological sex and traits associated with a particular sex as something static, it should be recognized that in an evolutionary perspective sex can be viewed as a reaction norm, with sex attributes being phenotypically plastic. Sex determination itself is fundamentally plastic, even when it is termed “genetic”. The phenotypic expression of traits that are statistically associated with a particular sex always has a plastic component. This plasticity allows for much more variation in the expression of traits according to sex and more overlap between the sexes than is typically acknowledged. Here we review the variation and frequency of evolutionary changes in sex, sex determination and sex roles and conclude that sex in an evolutionary time-frame is extremely variable. We draw on recent findings in sex determination mechanisms, empirical findings of morphology and behaviour as well as genetic and developmental models to explore the concept of sex as a reaction norm. From this point of view, sexual differences are not expected to generally fall into neat, discrete, pre-determined classes. It is important to acknowledge this variability in order to increase objectivity in evolutionary research.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Cassel, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of population size and food stress on fitness-related characters in the scarce heath, a rare butterfly in Western Europe
- 2001
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Ingår i: Conservation Biology. - : Blackwell Science Publishing. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 15:6, s. 1667-1673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract: Knowledge about the effects of inbreeding in natural populations is scarce, especially in invertebrates. We analyzed to what extent fitness-related traits in the scarce heath ( Coenonympha hero), a butterfly, are affected by population size and isolation and whether differences in food quality influence these effects. We categorized nine populations as either large or small and isolated. Full-sib groups of offspring from 27 females were followed under seminatural conditions. Because of increased zygote mortality, egg hatchability was significantly lower in the small and isolated populations than in the large ones. Population category had no effect on larval weight under optimal conditions, but weight was significantly lower in the small-isolated category with low food quality. The effects of inbreeding can thus be hidden when conditions are benign but can appear under stress. Survival also differed significantly between population categories, and larval developmental time tended to be longer in the small-isolated category, irrespective of food conditions. We suggest that the differences in fitness between offspring from large and small isolated populations are at least partly due to inbreeding. This adds a further threat to a species that is already suffering from decreasing population sizes and increasing isolation among populations.
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| 4. |
- Celorio-Mancera, Maria de la Paz, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Larval transcriptomes reflect the evolutionary history of plant-insect associations
- 2023
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0014-3820 .- 1558-5646. ; 77:2, s. 519-533
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we investigated whether patterns of gene expression in larvae feeding on different plants can explain important aspects of the evolution of insect-plant associations, such as phylogenetic conservatism of host use and re-colonization of ancestral hosts that have been lost from the host repertoire. To this end, we performed a phylogenetically informed study comparing the transcriptomes of 4 nymphalid butterfly species in Polygonia and the closely related genus Nymphalis. Larvae were reared on Urtica dioica, Salix spp., and Ribes spp. Plant-specific gene expression was found to be similar across butterfly species, even in the case of host plants that are no longer used by two of the butterfly species. These results suggest that plant-specific transcriptomes can be robust over evolutionary time. We propose that adaptations to particular larval food plants can profitably be understood as an evolved set of modules of co-expressed genes, promoting conservatism in host use and facilitating re-colonization. Moreover, we speculate that the degree of overlap between plant-specific transcriptomes may correlate with the strength of trade-offs between plants as resources and hence to the probability of colonizing hosts and complete host shifts.
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| 5. |
- Hill, Jason, et al.
(författare)
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Unprecedented reorganization of holocentric chromosomes provides insights into the enigma of lepidopteran chromosome evolution
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 5:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chromosome evolution presents an enigma in the mega-diverse Lepidoptera. Most species exhibit constrained chromosome evolution with nearly identical haploid chromosome counts and chromosome-level gene collinearity among species more than 140 million years divergent. However, a few species possess radically inflated chromosomal counts due to extensive fission and fusion events. To address this enigma of constraint in the face of an exceptional ability to change, we investigated an unprecedented reorganization of the standard lepidopteran chromosome structure in the green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi). We find that gene content in P. napi has been extensively rearranged in large collinear blocks, which until now have been masked by a haploid chromosome number close to the lepidopteran average. We observe that ancient chromosome ends have been maintained and collinear blocks are enriched for functionally related genes suggesting both a mechanism and a possible role for selection in determining the boundaries of these genome-wide rearrangements.
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