Hybrid effects in field populations of the African monarch butterfly, Danaus chrysippus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Smith DA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8444992 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) use bright orange coloration to warn off predators as well as for sexual selection. Surprisingly the underlying pigment compounds have not been previously characterized. We used LCMS and fragmentation MS (including MSMS and MSn) of extracted pigments from nonmigratory summer-generation female monarch forewings to identify and provide relative quantitation of various orange pigments from D. plexippus. We observed seven ommochrome pigments, with xanthommatin and decarboxylated xanthommatin being the most abundant followed by xanthommatin methyl ester. Among the seven pigments, we also observed molecules that correspond to deaminated forms of these three amine-containing pigments. To the best of our knowledge, these deaminated compounds have not been previously discovered. A seventh pigment that we observed was α-hydroxyxanthommatin methyl ester, previously described in other nymphalid butterflies. We also show that chemical reduction of pigment extracts results in a change of their color from yellow to red, concomitant with the appearance of dihydro-xanthommatin and similarly reduced forms of the other pigment compounds. These findings indicate that monarchs may employ differences in the redox states of these pigments in order to achieve different hues of orange.
| S-EPMC9780745 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The 5,006-nucleotide (nt)-long genome of a new virus from monarch butterfly pupae was cloned and sequenced. It was flanked by inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) of 239 nt with 163-nt hairpins. The monosense genome with three open reading frames is typical of the genus Iteradensovirus in the subfamily Densovirinae of the family Parvoviridae.
| S-EPMC3990755 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The purpose of this study was to assess the ecological knowledge surrounding the western queen butterfly, Danaus gilippus thersippus (H. Bates). Specifically, our objectives were to synthesize existing data and knowledge on the ecology of the queen and use results of this assessment to inform the direction of future research on this understudied species. We identified six core areas for assessment: distribution, the biodiversity of plant resources, western queen and their host plant phenology, chemical ecology, and four key life history traits. We mapped the distribution of D. g. thersippus from museum specimen records, citizen science (e.g., iNaturalist) and image sharing app-based observations, along with other observational data enumerating all current known plant resources and long-range movements. We assembled 14 larval food plants, six pyrrolizidine alkaloids plants and six nectar plants distributed in the western Mojave and Sonoran Desert regions of the United States and Baja California. We report on its phenology and its long-range movement. Butterfly species have declined across the western US, and western monarch populations have declined by 97%. Danaus g. thersippus has received little research attention compared with its famous congener D. plexippus L. Danaus g. thersippus' desert distribution may be at its temperature limits for the species distribution and for its rare host plant Asclepias nyctaginifolia.
| S-EPMC7290759 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We report the discovery of a neo-sex chromosome in the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, and several of its close relatives. Z-linked scaffolds in the D. plexippus genome assembly were identified via sex-specific differences in Illumina sequencing coverage. Additionally, a majority of the D. plexippus genome assembly was assigned to chromosomes based on counts of one-to-one orthologs relative to the butterfly Melitaea cinxia (with replication using two other lepidopteran species), in which genome scaffolds have been mapped to linkage groups. Sequencing coverage-based assessments of Z linkage combined with homology-based chromosomal assignments provided strong evidence for a Z-autosome fusion in the Danaus lineage, involving the autosome homologous to chromosome 21 in M. cinxia Coverage analysis also identified three notable assembly errors resulting in chimeric Z-autosome scaffolds. Cytogenetic analysis further revealed a large W chromosome that is partially euchromatic, consistent with being a neo-W chromosome. The discovery of a neo-Z and the provisional assignment of chromosome linkage for >90% of D. plexippus genes lays the foundation for novel insights concerning sex chromosome evolution in this female-heterogametic model species for functional and evolutionary genomics.
| S-EPMC5633379 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The Nymphalidae family of cosmopolitan butterflies (Lepidoptera) comprises approximately 7200 species found on all continents and in all habitats. However, debate persists regarding the phylogenetic relationships within this family. In this study, we assembled and annotated eight mitogenomes of Nymphalidae, constituting the first report of complete mitogenomes for this family. Comparative analysis of 105 mitochondrial genomes revealed that the gene compositions and orders were identical to the ancestral insect mitogenome, except for Callerebia polyphemus trnV being before trnL and Limenitis homeyeri having two trnL genes. The results regarding length variation, AT bias, and codon usage were consistent with previous reports on butterfly mitogenomes. Our analysis indicated that the subfamilies Limenitinae, Nymphalinae, Apaturinae, Satyrinae, Charaxinae, Heliconiinae, and Danainae are monophyletic, while the subfamily the subfamily Cyrestinae is polyphyletic. Danainae is the base of the phylogenetic tree. At the tribe level, Euthaliini in Limenitinae; Melitaeini and Kallimini in Nymphalinae; Pseudergolini in Cyrestinae; Mycalesini, Coenonymphini, Ypthimini, Satyrini, and Melanitini in Satyrinae; and Charaxini in Charaxinae are regarded as monophyletic groups. However, the tribe Lethini in Satyrinae is paraphyletic, while the tribes Limenitini and Neptini in Limenitinae, Nymphalini and Hypolimni in Nymphalinae, and Danaini and Euploeini in Danainae are polyphyletic. This study is the first to report the gene features and phylogenetic relationships of the Nymphalidae family based on mitogenome analysis, providing a foundation for future studies of population genetics and phylogenetic relationships within this family.
| S-EPMC10217878 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundLepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are an important model system in ecology and evolution. A high-quality chromosomal genome assembly is available for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), but it lacks an in-depth transposable element (TE) annotation, presenting an opportunity to explore monarch TE dynamics and the impact of TEs on shaping the monarch genome.ResultsWe find 6.21% of the monarch genome is comprised of TEs, a reduction of 6.85% compared to the original TE annotation performed on the draft genome assembly. Monarch TE content is low compared to two closely related species with available genomes, Danaus chrysippus (33.97% TE) and Danaus melanippus (11.87% TE). The biggest TE contributions to genome size in the monarch are LINEs and Penelope-like elements, and three newly identified families, r2-hero_dPle (LINE), penelope-1_dPle (Penelope-like), and hase2-1_dPle (SINE), collectively contribute 34.92% of total TE content. We find evidence of recent TE activity, with two novel Tc1 families rapidly expanding over recent timescales (tc1-1_dPle, tc1-2_dPle). LINE fragments show signatures of genomic deletions indicating a high rate of TE turnover. We investigate associations between TEs and wing colouration and immune genes and identify a three-fold increase in TE content around immune genes compared to other host genes.ConclusionsWe provide a detailed TE annotation and analysis for the monarch genome, revealing a considerably smaller TE contribution to genome content compared to two closely related Danaus species with available genome assemblies. We identify highly successful novel DNA TE families rapidly expanding over recent timescales, and ongoing signatures of both TE expansion and removal highlight the dynamic nature of repeat content in the monarch genome. Our findings also suggest that insect immune genes are promising candidates for future interrogation of TE-mediated host adaptation.
| S-EPMC8848866 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We characterized sperm from the seminal vesicles of male monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), in triplicate, identifying 548 high confidence proteins. As with all but the most basal lepidopteran species male monarch butterflies are sperm heteromorphic, producing fertilization competent and anucleate fertilization incompetent sperm morphs. Comparing this data to the sperm proteomes of the Carolina sphinx moth (Manduca sexta) and the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) demonstrated high levels of functional coherence across proteomes, and conservation at the level of protein abundance and post-translational modification within Lepidoptera. Comparative genomic analyses revealed a significant reduction in orthology among Monarch sperm genes relative to the remainder of the genome in non-Lepidopteran insects. A substantial number of sperm proteins were found to be specific to Lepidoptera, lacking detectable homology outside this taxa. These findings are consistent with a burst of genetic novelty in the sperm proteome concurrent with the origin of heteromorphic spermatogenesis early in Lepidoptera evolution.
2017-10-26 | PXD006454 | Pride
Project description:The preference-performance hypothesis explains host specificity in phytophagous insects, positing that host plants chosen by adults confer the greatest larval fitness. However, adults sometimes oviposit on plants supporting low larval success because the components of host specificity (adult preference, plant palatability, and larval survival) are non-binary and not necessarily correlated. Palatability (willingness to eat) is governed by chemical cues and physical barriers such as trichomes, while survival (ability to complete development) depends upon nutrition and toxicity. Absence of a correlation between the components of host specificity results in low-performance hosts supporting limited larval development. Most studies of specificity focus on oviposition behavior leaving the importance and basis of palatability and survival under-explored. We conducted a comprehensive review of 127 plant species that have been claimed or tested to be hosts for the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus to classify them as non-hosts, low performance, or high performance. We performed a meta-analysis to test if performance status could be explained by properties of neurotoxic cardenolides or trichome density. We also conducted a no-choice larval feeding experiment to identify causes of low performance. We identified 34 high performance, 42 low performance, 33 non-hosts, and 18 species with unsubstantiated claims. Mean cardenolide concentration was greater in high- than low-performance hosts and a significant predictor of host status, suggesting possible evolutionary trade-offs in monarch specialization. Other cardenolide properties and trichome density were not significant predictors of host status. In the experiment, we found, of the 62% of larvae that attempted to eat low-performance hosts, only 3.5% survived to adult compared to 85% of those on the high-performance host, demonstrating that multiple factors affect larval host plant specificity. Our study is the first to classify all known host plants for monarchs and has conservation implications for this threatened species.
| S-EPMC9197062 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are parasitic mites that, combined with other factors, are contributing to high levels of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony losses. A Varroa-active dsRNA was recently developed to control Varroa mites within honey bee brood cells. This dsRNA has 372 base pairs that are homologous to a sequence region within the Varroa mite calmodulin gene (cam). The Varroa-active dsRNA also shares a 21-base pair match with monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) calmodulin mRNA, raising the possibility of non-target effects if there is environmental exposure. We chronically exposed the entire monarch larval stage to common (Asclepias syriaca) and tropical (Asclepias curassavica) milkweed leaves treated with concentrations of Varroa-active dsRNA that are one- and ten-fold higher than those used to treat honey bee hives. This corresponded to concentrations of 0.025-0.041 and 0.211-0.282 mg/g leaf, respectively. Potassium arsenate and a previously designed monarch-active dsRNA with a 100% base pair match to the monarch v-ATPase A mRNA (leaf concentration was 0.020-0.034 mg/g) were used as positive controls. The Varroa mite and monarch-active dsRNA's did not cause significant differences in larval mortality, larval or pupal development, pupal weights, or adult eclosion rates when compared to negative controls. Irrespective of control or dsRNA treatment, larvae that consumed approximately 7500 to 10,500-mg milkweed leaf within 10 to 12 days had the highest pupal weights. The lack of mortality and sublethal effects following dietary exposure to dsRNA with 21-base pair and 100% base pair match to mRNAs that correspond to regulatory genes suggest monarch mRNA may be refractory to silencing by dsRNA or monarch dsRNase may degrade dsRNA to a concentration that is insufficient to silence mRNA signaling.
| S-EPMC8171953 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The origin and dispersal history of the large butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae are not fully understood, due to internal phylogenetic and time calibration issues. We conducted phylogenetic and dating analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear genes of biogeographically diverse groups of the Nymphalinae in order to resolve some controversial relationships and the paleobiogeographic pattern of the subfamily. Our results support the sister relationship of Vanessa (Tribe Nymphalini) and the Nymphalis-group, and the grouping of the three old-world genera (Rhinopalpa, Kallimoides and Vanessula) within Tribe Victorinini. Molecular dating analyses invoking two additional calibrations under the butterfly-host plant coevolutionary scenarios result in a relatively deeper divergence of the subfamily's two major clades (Nymphalini and the Kallimoids), compatible with the Cretaceous floral turnover scenario during the so-called Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution. Phylobiogeographic analyses reveal that the Oriental region is probably the center of early divergences for Nymphalinae after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction, followed by repeated dispersals into the rest of the Old World and the New World during various periods beginning in Eocene. The biogeographic history indicates that temperature changes and host-plant diversification may have facilitated the dispersals of this butterfly subfamily, with accelerated global colonization during the middle to late Miocene.
| S-EPMC5562872 | biostudies-other