| Title: | Major ascaroside pheromone component asc-C5 influences reproductive plasticity among isolates of the invasive species pinewood nematode |
| Author(s): | Zhao M; Wickham JD; Zhao L; Sun J; |
| Address: | "State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1749-4877 (Electronic) 1749-4869 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Pheromones are communication chemicals and regulatory signals used by animals and represent unique tools for organisms to mediate behaviors and make 'decisions' to maximize their fitness. Phenotypic plasticity refers to the innate capacity of a species to tolerate a greater breadth of environmental conditions across which it adapts to improve its survival, reproduction, and fitness. The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, an invasive nematode species, was accidentally introduced from North America into Japan, China, and Europe; however, few studies have investigated its pheromones and phenotypic plasticity as a natural model. Here, we demonstrated a novel phenomenon, in which nematodes under the condition of pheromone presence triggered increased reproduction in invasive strains (JP1, JP2, CN1, CN2, EU1, and EU2), while it simultaneously decreased reproduction in native strains (US1 and US2). The bidirectional effect on fecundity, mediated by presence/absence of pheromones, is henceforth termed pheromone-regulative reproductive plasticity (PRRP). We further found that synthetic ascaroside asc-C5 (ascr#9), the major pheromone component, plays a leading role in PRRP and identified 2 candidate receptor genes, Bxydaf-38 and Bxysrd-10, involved in perceiving asc-C5. These results suggest that plasticity of reproductive responses to pheromones in pinewood nematode may increase its fitness in novel environments following introduction. This opens up a new perspective for invasion biology and presents a novel strategy of invasion, suggesting that pheromones, in addition to their traditional roles in chemical signaling, can influence the reproductive phenotype among native and invasive isolates. In addition, this novel mechanism could broadly explain, through comparative studies of native and invasive populations of animals, a potential underlying factor behind of the success of other biological invasions" |
| Keywords: | Animals Female Gene Expression Regulation Helminth Proteins/genetics/metabolism *Introduced Species Male Nematoda/*drug effects Oviposition/*drug effects/physiology Pheromones/*pharmacology RNA Interference Bursaphelenchus xylophilus fecundity invasion ph; |
| Notes: | "MedlineZhao, Meiping Wickham, Jacob D Zhao, Lilin Sun, Jianghua eng 2018YFC1200400/National key R & D Program of China/ 31630013/Natural Science Foundation of China/ 31572272/Natural Science Foundation of China/ QYZDJ-SSW-SMC024/Frontier Science Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences/ Australia 2020/12/03 Integr Zool. 2021 Nov; 16(6):893-907. doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12512. Epub 2020 Dec 23" |
