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Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies

The role of kin-selection in the evolution of post-reproductive life is controversial. While anthropological and demographic studies strongly suggest that humans and a few other species experience kin selection for significant post-reproductive survival, these results are necessarily correlational....

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Autores principales: Saberski, Erik T., Diamond, Julia Daisy, Henneman, Nathaniel Fath, Levitis, Daniel A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5088610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27812427
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2631
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author Saberski, Erik T.
Diamond, Julia Daisy
Henneman, Nathaniel Fath
Levitis, Daniel A.
author_facet Saberski, Erik T.
Diamond, Julia Daisy
Henneman, Nathaniel Fath
Levitis, Daniel A.
author_sort Saberski, Erik T.
collection PubMed
description The role of kin-selection in the evolution of post-reproductive life is controversial. While anthropological and demographic studies strongly suggest that humans and a few other species experience kin selection for significant post-reproductive survival, these results are necessarily correlational. Understanding could therefore be advanced by the development of a globally available, field and laboratory tractable experimental model of kin-selected post-reproductive survival. In only one invertebrate (Quadrartus yoshinomiyai, a gall-forming aphid endemic to Japan) have individuals too old to reproduce been shown to be both numerous in natural habitats and able to help close relatives survive or reproduce. Pea aphids, (Acyrthosiphon pisum), common, tractable organisms, frequently outlive their reproductive ages in laboratories, live in tight interacting groups that are often clonal, and therefore should be evaluated as potential model organisms for the study of adaptive post-reproductive life. The first major step in this process is to identify an optimal method for assessing if a parthenogenetic adult is post-reproductive. We evaluated three methods, relying respectively on isolation in clip cages, visual examination for embryonic eyespots, and dissection. In every case each method identified the same individuals as reproductive versus post-reproductive. While the clip-cage method requires a multi-day wait to produce data, and dissection is inevitably fatal, the eyespot method is quick (under one minute per individual) easy, and non-invasive. This method makes it possible to accurately assess the post-reproductive status of a large number of parthenogenetic pea aphids. We demonstrate the usefulness of the eyespot method in showing that while reproductively valuable adults tend to place themselves near the centers of clonal colonies, less valuable post-reproductive adults are more often at or beyond the edges of colonies. These encouraging early results provide both impetuous and aid for further investigations into the post-reproductive lives of pea aphids.
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spelling pubmed-50886102016-11-03 Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies Saberski, Erik T. Diamond, Julia Daisy Henneman, Nathaniel Fath Levitis, Daniel A. PeerJ Entomology The role of kin-selection in the evolution of post-reproductive life is controversial. While anthropological and demographic studies strongly suggest that humans and a few other species experience kin selection for significant post-reproductive survival, these results are necessarily correlational. Understanding could therefore be advanced by the development of a globally available, field and laboratory tractable experimental model of kin-selected post-reproductive survival. In only one invertebrate (Quadrartus yoshinomiyai, a gall-forming aphid endemic to Japan) have individuals too old to reproduce been shown to be both numerous in natural habitats and able to help close relatives survive or reproduce. Pea aphids, (Acyrthosiphon pisum), common, tractable organisms, frequently outlive their reproductive ages in laboratories, live in tight interacting groups that are often clonal, and therefore should be evaluated as potential model organisms for the study of adaptive post-reproductive life. The first major step in this process is to identify an optimal method for assessing if a parthenogenetic adult is post-reproductive. We evaluated three methods, relying respectively on isolation in clip cages, visual examination for embryonic eyespots, and dissection. In every case each method identified the same individuals as reproductive versus post-reproductive. While the clip-cage method requires a multi-day wait to produce data, and dissection is inevitably fatal, the eyespot method is quick (under one minute per individual) easy, and non-invasive. This method makes it possible to accurately assess the post-reproductive status of a large number of parthenogenetic pea aphids. We demonstrate the usefulness of the eyespot method in showing that while reproductively valuable adults tend to place themselves near the centers of clonal colonies, less valuable post-reproductive adults are more often at or beyond the edges of colonies. These encouraging early results provide both impetuous and aid for further investigations into the post-reproductive lives of pea aphids. PeerJ Inc. 2016-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5088610/ /pubmed/27812427 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2631 Text en © 2016 Saberski et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Entomology
Saberski, Erik T.
Diamond, Julia Daisy
Henneman, Nathaniel Fath
Levitis, Daniel A.
Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title_full Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title_fullStr Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title_full_unstemmed Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title_short Post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
title_sort post-reproductive parthenogenetic pea aphids (acyrthosiphon pisum) are visually identifiable and disproportionately positioned distally to clonal colonies
topic Entomology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5088610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27812427
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2631
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