Laboratorio de Artrópodos, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes, 3350, 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Parasitol Res. 2012 Jun;110(6):2333-40. doi: 10.1007/s00436-011-2768-7. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
Phenotypic plasticity has been defined as the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes when exposed to distinct environments throughout its ontogeny. Morphological variability of individuals is an example of this plasticity. Taking into account that several studies have reported a wide morphological variability in Varroa destructor populations, we evaluated if the body size plasticity of the parasite constituted a key factor able to modulate mites survival when they were exposed to a drug bioassays. Drug bioassays against mites were conducted using three different Syzygium aromaticum essential oil concentrations (0.5, 1, and 5 μl/capsule) and controls. After 4 h of exposition, mite mortality was registered. The width (WS) and length (LS) of the dorsal shield were measured in dead mites. General lineal models were carried to determine if V. destructor survival to acaricides was related to the explanatory variables. Data modelling confirmed that WS and LS variables, together with time interaction, were significantly related to V. destructor survival when the parasites were exposed to acaricides. The models proposed demonstrated that for the smaller S. aromaticum essential oil concentration, the larger the parasite body, the greater the probability that it remains alive at the end of the bioassay. Such relationship was inverse for the other two concentrations tested. Possible causes explaining the body size variability in V. destructor individuals were discussed.
表型可塑性被定义为基因型在其个体发育过程中暴露于不同环境时产生不同表型的能力。个体的形态变异性就是这种可塑性的一个例子。考虑到几项研究报告指出，瓦螨种群存在广泛的形态变异性，我们评估了寄生虫的体型可塑性是否构成了一个关键因素，能够调节寄生虫在暴露于药物生测时的生存能力。使用三种不同的丁香精油浓度（0.5、1 和 5 μl/胶囊）和对照，对螨虫进行药物生测。暴露 4 小时后，记录螨虫死亡率。测量死亡螨虫的背甲宽度（WS）和长度（LS）。进行广义线性模型以确定瓦螨对杀螨剂的生存是否与解释变量有关。数据模型证实，当寄生虫暴露于杀螨剂时，WS 和 LS 变量以及时间相互作用与瓦螨的生存显著相关。提出的模型表明，对于较小的丁香精油浓度，寄生虫的体型越大，在生测结束时存活的可能性就越大。对于测试的另外两种浓度，这种关系则相反。讨论了导致瓦螨个体体型变异性的可能原因。
