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Fuchikawa T, Beer K, Linke-Winnebeck C, Ben-David R, Kotowoy A, Tsang VWK, Warman GR, Winnebeck EC, Helfrich-Förster C, Bloch G. Neuronal circadian clock protein oscillations are similar in behaviourally rhythmic forager honeybees and in arrhythmic nurses. Open Biol 2018; 7:rsob.170047. [PMID: 28615472 PMCID: PMC5493776 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.170047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2017] [Accepted: 05/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Internal clocks driving rhythms of about a day (circadian) are ubiquitous in animals, allowing them to anticipate environmental changes. Genetic or environmental disturbances to circadian clocks or the rhythms they produce are commonly associated with illness, compromised performance or reduced survival. Nevertheless, some animals including Arctic mammals, open sea fish and social insects such as honeybees are active around-the-clock with no apparent ill effects. The mechanisms allowing this remarkable natural plasticity are unknown. We generated and validated a new and specific antibody against the clock protein PERIOD of the honeybee Apis mellifera (amPER) and used it to characterize the circadian network in the honeybee brain. We found many similarities to Drosophila melanogaster and other insects, suggesting common anatomical organization principles in the insect clock that have not been appreciated before. Time course analyses revealed strong daily oscillations in amPER levels in foragers, which show circadian rhythms, and also in nurses that do not, although the latter have attenuated oscillations in brain mRNA clock gene levels. The oscillations in nurses show that activity can be uncoupled from the circadian network and support the hypothesis that a ticking circadian clock is essential even in around-the-clock active animals in a constant physical environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Fuchikawa
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - K Beer
- Neurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Germany
| | | | - R Ben-David
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - A Kotowoy
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - V W K Tsang
- Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - G R Warman
- Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - E C Winnebeck
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand .,Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | | | - G Bloch
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The A. Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
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Fuchikawa T, Okada K. Inter- and intrasexual genetic correlations of exaggerated traits and locomotor activity. J Evol Biol 2013; 26:1979-87. [PMID: 23848965 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2012] [Revised: 05/02/2013] [Accepted: 05/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Exaggerated traits in males can be costly and therefore can negatively affect fitness. Although these costs are thought to be male specific, traits that have a negative effect due to exaggeration are often shared between the sexes as life-history traits. When there are genetic intersexual correlations for these shared characters, the evolution of the exaggerated traits can impose these costs on nonadorned females through the intersexual correlation. Thus, the exaggerated traits can constrain optimum development of female characters, even if the females lack these exaggerations completely. However, investigation of this pattern has been largely ignored, and thus, it is necessary to investigate genetic architectures of these traits within and across the sexes. Male flour beetles, Gnatocerus cornutus, have enlarged mandibles that are used in male-male competition, but females lack this character completely. Using a traditional full-sib/half-sib breeding design, we detected a negative intrasexual genetic correlation between male weapon size and locomotor activity, but not an intersexual genetic correlation for locomotor activity. After subjecting this weapon to 17 generations of bidirectional selection, we found a correlated response to locomotor activity in the male, whereas there was no correlated response in the female. Our results suggest that the costs of exaggerated traits to locomotion are not imposed on females and would be male specific. This is partly explained by genetic decoupling of locomotor activities across the sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Fuchikawa
- Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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Fuchikawa T, Sanada S, Nishio R, Matsumoto A, Matsuyama T, Yamagishi M, Tomioka K, Tanimura T, Miyatake T. The clock gene cryptochrome of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in strains with different mating times. Heredity (Edinb) 2009; 104:387-92. [PMID: 20010960 DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2009.167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Differences in mating time between populations can give rise to premating reproductive isolation. Tephritid fruit flies exhibit large variation in mating time among intra- or inter-specific populations. We previously cloned the clock gene period from two strains of melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae; in one the individuals mate early during the day, whereas in the other the individuals mate later. These strains were originally established by divergent artificial selection for developmental time, 'short' and 'long', with early and late mating times, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of PERIOD proteins for these two strains were reported to be identical. Here we cloned another clock gene cryptochrome (cry) from the two strains, and found two stable amino acid substitutions in the strains. In addition, the allele frequency at the two polymorphic sites of cry gene correlated with the circadian locomotor period (tau) across strains, whereas the expression pattern of cry mRNA in the heads of flies taken from the short strain significantly differed from that from the long strain. These findings suggest that variation in the cry gene is related to differences in the circadian behaviour in the two strains, thus implying that the cry gene may have an important role in reproductive isolation.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Fuchikawa
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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