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Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage.

ABSTRACT: Conspicuous carotenoid ornamentation is considered a signal of individual "quality" and one of the most intensely studied traits found to co-vary with parasitism. Since it has been suggested that only "high quality" individuals have enough resources to express excessive sexual ornaments and resist parasites, current theory struggles to explain cases where the brightest individuals carry the most parasites. Surprisingly little emphasis has been put on the contrasting routes to fitness utilized by different parasite species inhabiting the same host. Using Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) as model species, we hypothesized that skin redness and allocation of carotenoids between skin and muscle (redness ratio) will be positively and negatively associated with parasites using the fish as an intermediate and final host, respectively. Both pigment parameters were indeed positively associated with abundances of parasites awaiting trophic transmission (Diplostomum sp. and Diphyllobothrium spp.) and negatively associated with the abundance of adult Eubothrium salvelini tapeworms. These empirical data demonstrate that contrasting associations between carotenoid coloration and parasite intensities relates to the specific premises of different parasite species and life cycle stages.

SUBMITTER: Johansen IB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6650492 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage.

Johansen I B IB Henriksen E H EH Shaw J C JC Mayer I I Amundsen P-A PA Øverli Ø Ø

Scientific reports 20190723 1

Conspicuous carotenoid ornamentation is considered a signal of individual "quality" and one of the most intensely studied traits found to co-vary with parasitism. Since it has been suggested that only "high quality" individuals have enough resources to express excessive sexual ornaments and resist parasites, current theory struggles to explain cases where the brightest individuals carry the most parasites. Surprisingly little emphasis has been put on the contrasting routes to fitness utilized by ...[more]

PMID: 31337816

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Project description:Arctic charr is an especially attractive aquaculture species given that it features the desirable tissue traits of other salmonids, but can be bred and grown at inland freshwater tank farms year round. It is therefore of interest to develop upper temperature tolerant (UTT) strains of Arctic charr to increase the robustness of the species in the face of climate change, as well as to enable production in more southern regions. We conducted an acute temperature trial to identify temperature tolerant and intolerant Arctic charr individuals. Specifically, approximately 200 fish were transferred to an experimental tank (diameter: 1.86 m, depth 50 cm) and left to acclimate for 48 h at ambient temperature. After acclimation, 10 fish were removed to act as a control group, then water that had been diverted through a heat exchanger was added to the flow-through system to increase the water temperature in the tank by 6°C/h until it reached 22°C, then 0.5°C every 30 min until the water reached 25°C, the observed lethal temperature for these fish. When the water temperature reached 25°C, the temperature was held constant and the fish were closely monitored for signs of stress. The first and last 10 individuals to show loss of balance were quickly removed from the tank for sampling, thus representing the 5% least and most temperature tolerant fish, respectively. A reference design microarray study was then performed with the cGRASP 32K microarray using six samples from each group (Intolerant, Tolerant, Control) to identify genes differentially expressed between groups. The results of this study will feed into an ongoing Arctic charr marker-assisted selection based broodstock development program, and may contribute to population-based conservation initiatives for salmonids in general. 18 microarray slides representing 6 individuals from 3 treatment groups (Intolerant, Tolerant and Control). One test cDNA labeled with cy5 and the common reference aRNA labeled with Cy3 was hybridized to each slide Reference design: 18 slides (6 x Tolerant fish, 6x Intolerant fish, 6x Control fish) were used.

Dataset Information

Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage.

Publications

Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage.

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