151
|
Sternberg ED, de Roode JC, Hunter MD. Trans-generational parasite protection associated with paternal diet. J Anim Ecol 2014; 84:310-21. [PMID: 25251734 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 09/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Multiple generations of hosts are often exposed to the same pathogens, favouring the evolution of trans-generational defences. Because females have more opportunities to transfer protective molecules to offspring, many studies have focused on maternally derived protection. However, males of many species can transfer compounds along with sperm, including chemicals that could provide protection. Here, we assess maternally and paternally derived protection in a monarch butterfly-protozoan parasite system where parasite resistance is heavily influenced by secondary plant chemicals, known as cardenolides, present in the larval diet of milkweed plants. We reared monarch butterflies on medicinal and non-medicinal milkweed species and then measured resistance of their offspring to infection. We also measured cardenolide content in adult monarchs reared on the two species, and in the eggs that they produced. We found that offspring were more resistant to infection when their fathers were reared on medicinal milkweed, while maternal diet had less of an effect. We also found that eggs contained the highest levels of cardenolides when both parents were reared on the medicinal species. Moreover, females reared on non-medicinal milkweed produced eggs with significantly higher levels of cardenolides if they mated with males reared on the medicinal milkweed species. However, we found an equivocal relationship between the cardenolides present in eggs and parasite resistance in the offspring. Our results demonstrate that males reared on medicinal plants can transfer protection to their offspring, but the exact mechanism remains unresolved. This suggests that paternal protection from parasitism might be important, particularly when there are environmental sources of parasite resistance and when males transfer spermatophores during mating.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eleanore D Sternberg
- Department of Biology, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.,Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, 111 Merkle Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Jacobus C de Roode
- Department of Biology, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - Mark D Hunter
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 2053 Natural Sciences Building, 830 North University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1048, USA
| |
Collapse
|
152
|
Males of a strongly polygynous species consume more poisonous food than females. PLoS One 2014; 9:e111057. [PMID: 25337911 PMCID: PMC4206510 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2014] [Accepted: 09/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We present evidence of a possible case of self-medication in a lekking bird, the great bustard Otis tarda. Great bustards consumed blister beetles (Meloidae), in spite of the fact that they contain cantharidin, a highly toxic compound that is lethal in moderate doses. In addition to anthelminthic properties, cantharidin was effective against gastrointestinal bacteria that cause sexually-transmitted diseases. Although both sexes consumed blister beetles during the mating season, only males selected them among all available insects, and ingested more and larger beetles than females. The male-biased consumption suggests that males could use cantharidin to reduce their parasite load and increase their sexual attractiveness. This plausibly explains the intense cloaca display males perform to approaching females, and the meticulous inspection females conduct of the male's cloaca, a behaviour only observed in this and another similar species of the bustard family. A white, clean cloaca with no infection symptoms (e.g., diarrhoea) is an honest signal of both, resistance to cantharidin and absence of parasites, and represents a reliable indicator of the male quality to the extremely choosy females. Our results do not definitely prove, but certainly strongly suggest that cantharidin, obtained by consumption of blister beetles, acts in great bustards as an oral anti-microbial and pathogen-limiting compound, and that males ingest these poisonous insects to increase their mating success, pointing out that self-medication might have been overlooked as a sexually-selected mechanism enhancing male fitness.
Collapse
|
153
|
Golokhvast K, Sergievich A, Grigoriev N. Geophagy (rock eating), experimental stress and cognitive idiosyncrasy. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed 2014; 4:362-6. [PMID: 25182720 DOI: 10.12980/apjtb.4.2014c1197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2014] [Accepted: 03/23/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To discusse the impact of geophagy on behavior and conditioned-reflex activity of Wistar rats subjected to instrumental stress under experimental conditions. METHODS Experimental geophagy was simulated by adding zeolite-containing tuff (clinoptilolite) to animal feed, the amount relating to 2% of body mass. Tuff was obtained from areas where animals usually eat subsurface rock. Search activity of animals and peculiarities of information and emotional stress were studied through the use of a universal problem chamber. RESULTS The results of this experimental study showed the negative impact of instrumental stress on laboratory animals, manifested in behavioral dysfunction, in the form of changes in qualitative and quantitative characteristics of search activity. Experimental geophagy contributed to significant improvement in behavioral parameters, confirming the anti-stress effects of the use of natural ingredients. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that, in natural environmental conditions, "edible" rocks serve as an adaptive tool for recovery from various types of environmental stresses, and are examples of self-medication.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kirill Golokhvast
- Far Eastern Federal University, 7, Sukhanova Street, Vladivostok, Russian Federation
| | - Alexander Sergievich
- Amur Region Education Development Institute, 107, Severnaya Street, Blagoveshchensk, Russian Federation
| | - Nikolay Grigoriev
- Amur State Medical Academy, 95, Gorky Street, Blagoveshchensk, Russian Federation
| |
Collapse
|
154
|
Choisy M, de Roode JC. The ecology and evolution of animal medication: genetically fixed response versus phenotypic plasticity. Am Nat 2014; 184 Suppl 1:S31-46. [PMID: 25061676 DOI: 10.1086/676928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Animal medication against parasites can occur either as a genetically fixed (constitutive) or phenotypically plastic (induced) behavior. Taking the tritrophic interaction between the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus, its protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, and its food plant Asclepias spp. as a test case, we develop a game-theory model to identify the epidemiological (parasite prevalence and virulence) and environmental (plant toxicity and abundance) conditions that predict the evolution of genetically fixed versus phenotypically plastic forms of medication. Our model shows that the relative benefits (the antiparasitic properties of medicinal food) and costs (side effects of medicine, the costs of searching for medicine, and the costs of plasticity itself) crucially determine whether medication is genetically fixed or phenotypically plastic. Our model suggests that animals evolve phenotypic plasticity when parasite risk (a combination of virulence and prevalence and thus a measure of the strength of parasite-mediated selection) is relatively low to moderately high and genetically fixed medication when parasite risk becomes very high. The latter occurs because at high parasite risk, the costs of plasticity are outweighed by the benefits of medication. Our model provides a simple and general framework to study the conditions that drive the evolution of alternative forms of animal medication.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marc Choisy
- Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC; CNRS 5290, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement 224, Universities of Montpellier 1 and 2), Montpellier, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
155
|
Lively CM, de Roode JC, Duffy MA, Graham AL, Koskella B. Interesting open questions in disease ecology and evolution. Am Nat 2014; 184 Suppl 1:S1-8. [PMID: 25061674 DOI: 10.1086/677032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Curtis M Lively
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
156
|
|
157
|
Singer MS, Mason PA, Smilanich AM. Ecological immunology mediated by diet in herbivorous insects. Integr Comp Biol 2014; 54:913-21. [PMID: 24951503 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icu089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A rapidly advancing area of ecological immunology concerns the effects of diet on animals' immunological responses to parasites and pathogens. Here, we focus on diet-mediated ecological immunology in herbivorous insects, in part because these organisms commonly experience nutritional limitations from their diets of plants. Nutritional immunology highlights nutrient-based trade-offs between immunological and other physiological processes as well as trade-offs among distinct immunological processes. This field reveals that nutrition influences the quality and quantity of immunological defense in herbivorous insects, and conversely that nutritional intake by herbivorous insects can be an adaptive response to the specific types of immune-challenge they face in the context of other physiological processes. Because the diets of herbivores challenge them physiologically with plants' secondary metabolites, another area of study analyzes constraints on immunological defense imposed by secondary metabolites of plants in the diets of herbivorous insects. Alternatively, some herbivores can use secondary metabolites as medicine against parasites or pathogens. Animal-medication theory makes an important contribution to ecological immunology by distinguishing prophylactic and therapeutic mechanisms of anti-parasite defense. Integrating ideas from animal-medication and nutritional immunology, we outline a conceptual framework in which the immunological role of the diet consists of mechanisms of prophylaxis, therapy, compensation, and combinations thereof. Then, we use this framework to organize findings from our own research on diet-mediated ecological immunology of woolly bear caterpillars. We show evidence that the woolly bear caterpillar, Grammia incorrupta (Hy. Edwards) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, and Arctiinae), can employ both diet-mediated prophylaxis and therapy. First, increased consumption of carbohydrate-biased food prior to immune-challenge increased its melanization-response. Second, increased consumption of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) more than 24 h after parasitism by tachinid flies resulted in anti-parasite resistance. Caterpillars reduced feeding on protein-biased food within 24 h after immune-challenge, showing evidence of illness-induced anorexia. We synthesize our work to generate the hypothesis that a diet-mediated defense by the host against parasites acts as a temporally explicit, multi-stage process.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael S Singer
- Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Peri A Mason
- Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Angela M Smilanich
- Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| |
Collapse
|
158
|
Milroy LG, Grossmann TN, Hennig S, Brunsveld L, Ottmann C. Modulators of Protein–Protein Interactions. Chem Rev 2014; 114:4695-748. [DOI: 10.1021/cr400698c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 352] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lech-Gustav Milroy
- Laboratory
of Chemical Biology and Institute of Complex Molecular Systems, Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Den Dolech
2, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Tom N. Grossmann
- Chemical Genomics Centre of the Max Planck Society, Otto-Hahn Straße 15, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
- Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Sven Hennig
- Chemical Genomics Centre of the Max Planck Society, Otto-Hahn Straße 15, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Luc Brunsveld
- Laboratory
of Chemical Biology and Institute of Complex Molecular Systems, Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Den Dolech
2, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Christian Ottmann
- Laboratory
of Chemical Biology and Institute of Complex Molecular Systems, Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Den Dolech
2, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
159
|
Voirin B, Scriba MF, Martinez-Gonzalez D, Vyssotski AL, Wikelski M, Rattenborg NC. Ecology and neurophysiology of sleep in two wild sloth species. Sleep 2014; 37:753-61. [PMID: 24899764 DOI: 10.5665/sleep.3584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVES Interspecific variation in sleep measured in captivity correlates with various physiological and environmental factors, including estimates of predation risk in the wild. However, it remains unclear whether prior comparative studies have been confounded by the captive recording environment. Herein we examine the effect of predation pressure on sleep in sloths living in the wild. DESIGN Comparison of two closely related sloth species, one exposed to predation and one free from predation. SETTING Panamanian mainland rainforest (predators present) and island mangrove (predators absent). PARTICIPANTS Mainland (Bradypus variegatus, five males and four females) and island (Bradypus pygmaeus, six males) sloths. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Electroencephalographic (EEG) and electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded using a miniature data logger. Although both species spent between 9 and 10 h per day sleeping, the mainland sloths showed a preference for sleeping at night, whereas island sloths showed no preference for sleeping during the day or night. Standardized EEG activity during nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep showed lower low-frequency power, and increased spindle and higher frequency power in island sloths when compared to mainland sloths. CONCLUSIONS In sloths sleeping in the wild, predation pressure influenced the timing of sleep, but not the amount of time spent asleep. The preference for sleeping at night in mainland sloths may be a strategy to avoid detection by nocturnal cats. The pronounced differences in the NREM sleep EEG spectrum remain unexplained, but might be related to genetic or environmental factors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bryson Voirin
- Avian Sleep Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Seewiesen, Seewiesen, Germany ; Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Radolfzell, Radolfzell, Germany ; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute - Panama, Balboa, Ancón, Panama
| | - Madeleine F Scriba
- Avian Sleep Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Seewiesen, Seewiesen, Germany ; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Alexei L Vyssotski
- Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Radolfzell, Radolfzell, Germany ; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Niels C Rattenborg
- Avian Sleep Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Seewiesen, Seewiesen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
160
|
Abstract
Abstract
The synthesis of urea in 1828 set in motion the discipline of organic synthesis in general and of total synthesis in particular, the art and science of synthesizing natural products, the molecules of living nature. Early endeavors in total synthesis had as their main objective the proof of structure of the target molecule. Later on, the primary goal became the demonstration of the power of synthesis to construct complex molecules through appropriately devised strategies, making the endeavor an achievement whose value was measured by its elegance and efficiency. While these objectives continue to be important, contemporary endeavors in total synthesis are increasingly focused on practical aspects, including method development, efficiency, and biological and medical relevance. In this article, the emergence and evolution of total synthesis to its present state is traced, selected total syntheses from the author's laboratories are highlighted, and projections for the future of the field are discussed.
Collapse
|
161
|
McArt SH, Koch H, Irwin RE, Adler LS. Arranging the bouquet of disease: floral traits and the transmission of plant and animal pathogens. Ecol Lett 2014; 17:624-36. [PMID: 24528408 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2013] [Accepted: 01/17/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Several floral microbes are known to be pathogenic to plants or floral visitors such as pollinators. Despite the ecological and economic importance of pathogens deposited in flowers, we often lack a basic understanding of how floral traits influence disease transmission. Here, we provide the first systematic review regarding how floral traits attract vectors (for plant pathogens) or hosts (for animal pathogens), mediate disease establishment and evolve under complex interactions with plant mutualists that can be vectors for microbial antagonists. Attraction of floral visitors is influenced by numerous phenological, morphological and chemical traits, and several plant pathogens manipulate floral traits to attract vectors. There is rapidly growing interest in how floral secondary compounds and antimicrobial enzymes influence disease establishment in plant hosts. Similarly, new research suggests that consumption of floral secondary compounds can reduce pathogen loads in animal pollinators. Given recent concerns about pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens, the role of floral traits in mediating pathogen transmission is a key area for further research. We conclude by discussing important implications of floral transmission of pathogens for agriculture, conservation and human health, suggesting promising avenues for future research in both basic and applied biology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Scott H McArt
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
162
|
Sternberg ED, Li H, Wang R, Gowler C, de Roode JC. Patterns of Host-Parasite Adaptation in Three Populations of Monarch Butterflies Infected with a Naturally Occurring Protozoan Disease: Virulence, Resistance, and Tolerance. Am Nat 2013; 182:E235-48. [DOI: 10.1086/673442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
163
|
Hagen EH, Roulette CJ, Sullivan RJ. Explaining human recreational use of 'pesticides': The neurotoxin regulation model of substance use vs. the hijack model and implications for age and sex differences in drug consumption. Front Psychiatry 2013; 4:142. [PMID: 24204348 PMCID: PMC3817850 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2013] [Accepted: 10/12/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Most globally popular drugs are plant neurotoxins or their close chemical analogs. These compounds evolved to deter, not reward or reinforce, consumption. Moreover, they reliably activate virtually all toxin defense mechanisms, and are thus correctly identified by human neurophysiology as toxins. Acute drug toxicity must therefore play a more central role in drug use theory. We accordingly challenge the popular idea that the rewarding and reinforcing properties of drugs "hijack" the brain, and propose instead that the brain evolved to carefully regulate neurotoxin consumption to minimize fitness costs and maximize fitness benefits. This perspective provides a compelling explanation for the dramatic changes in substance use that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood, and for pervasive sex differences in substance use: because nicotine and many other plant neurotoxins are teratogenic, children, and to a lesser extent women of childbearing age, evolved to avoid ingesting them. However, during the course of human evolution many adolescents and adults reaped net benefits from regulated intake of plant neurotoxins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Edward H. Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA, USA
| | - Casey J. Roulette
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA, USA
| | - Roger J. Sullivan
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
164
|
|