Dataset Information

Redox alters yellow dragonflies into red.

ABSTRACT: Body color change associated with sexual maturation--so-called nuptial coloration--is commonly found in diverse vertebrates and invertebrates, and plays important roles for their reproductive success. In some dragonflies, whereas females and young males are yellowish in color, aged males turn vivid red upon sexual maturation. The male-specific coloration plays pivotal roles in, for example, mating and territoriality, but molecular basis of the sex-related transition in body coloration of the dragonflies has been poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that yellow/red color changes in the dragonflies are regulated by redox states of epidermal ommochrome pigments. Ratios of reduced-form pigments to oxidized-form pigments were significantly higher in red mature males than yellow females and immature males. The ommochrome pigments extracted from the dragonflies changed color according to redox conditions in vitro: from red to yellow in the presence of oxidant and from yellow to red in the presence of reductant. By injecting the reductant solution into live insects, the yellow-to-red color change was experimentally reproduced in vivo in immature males and mature females. Discontinuous yellow/red mosaicism was observed in body coloration of gynandromorphic dragonflies, suggesting a cell-autonomous regulation over the redox states of the ommochrome pigments. Our finding extends the mechanical repertoire of pigment-based body color change in animals, and highlights an impressively simple molecular mechanism that regulates an ecologically important color trait.

SUBMITTER: Futahashi R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3412017 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Redox alters yellow dragonflies into red.

Futahashi Ryo R Kurita Ryoji R Mano Hiroaki H Fukatsu Takema T

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20120709 31

Body color change associated with sexual maturation--so-called nuptial coloration--is commonly found in diverse vertebrates and invertebrates, and plays important roles for their reproductive success. In some dragonflies, whereas females and young males are yellowish in color, aged males turn vivid red upon sexual maturation. The male-specific coloration plays pivotal roles in, for example, mating and territoriality, but molecular basis of the sex-related transition in body coloration of the dra ...[more]

PMID: 22778425

Similar Datasets

Project description:Artesunate (ART) is a prominent anti-malarial with significant anti-cancer properties. Our previous studies showed that ART enhances lysosomal function and ferritin degradation, which was necessary for its anti-cancer properties. ART targeting to mitochondria also significantly improved its efficacy, but the effect of ART on mitophagy, an important cellular pathway that facilitates the removal of damaged mitochondria, remains unknown. Here, we first observed that ART mainly localizes in the mitochondria and its probe labeling revealed that it binds to a large number of mitochondrial proteins and causes mitochondrial fission. Second, we found that ART treatment leads to autophagy induction and the decrease of mitochondrial proteins. When autophagy is inhibited, the decrease of mitochondrial proteins could be reversed, indicating that the degradation of mitochondrial proteins is through mitophagy. Third, our results showed that ART treatment stabilizes the full-length form of PTEN induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) on the mitochondria and activates the PINK1-dependent pathway. This in turn leads to the recruitment of Parkin, sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1), ubiquitin and microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3 (LC3) to the mitochondria and culminates in mitophagy. When PINK1 is knocked down, ART-induced mitophagy is markedly suppressed. Finally, we investigated the effect of mitophagy by ART on mitochondrial functions and found that knockdown of PINK1 alters the cellular redox status in ART-treated cells, which is accompanied with a significant decrease in glutathione (GSH) and increase in mitochondrial reactive oxidative species (mROS) and cellular lactate levels. Additionally, knockdown of PINK1 leads to a significant increase of mitochondrial depolarization and more cell apoptosis by ART, suggesting that mitophagy protects from ART-induced cell death. Taken together, our findings reveal the molecular mechanism that ART induces cytoprotective mitophagy through the PINK1-dependent pathway, suggesting that mitophagy inhibition could enhance the anti-cancer activity of ART.

Dataset Information

Redox alters yellow dragonflies into red.

Publications

Redox alters yellow dragonflies into red.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets