Kecko S, Mihailova A, Kangassalo K, Elferts D, Krama T, Krams R, Luoto S, Rantala M J, Krams I A
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technology, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia.
Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
J Evol Biol. 2017 Oct;30(10):1910-1918. doi: 10.1111/jeb.13150. Epub 2017 Aug 21.
Deficiency of food resources in ontogeny is known to prolong an organism's developmental time and affect body size in adulthood. Yet life-history traits are plastic: an organism can increase its growth rate to compensate for a period of slow growth, a phenomenon known as 'compensatory growth'. We tested whether larvae of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella can accelerate their growth after a fast of 12, 24 or 72 h. We found that a subgroup of female larvae showed compensatory growth when starved for 12 h. Food deficiency lasting more than 12 h resulted in longer development and lower mass gain. Strength of encapsulation reactions against a foreign body inserted in haemocoel was the weakest in females that showed compensatory growth, whereas the strongest encapsulation was recorded in the males and females that fasted for 24 and 72 h. More specifically, we found sex-biased immune reactions so that females had stronger encapsulation rates than males in one group that fasted for 72 h. Overall, rapidly growing females had a short larval development period and the shortest adult lifespan. These results suggest that highly dynamic trade-offs between the environment, life-history traits and sex lead to plasticity in developmental strategies/growth rates in the greater wax moth.
个体发育过程中食物资源的匮乏会延长生物体的发育时间，并影响其成年后的体型。然而，生活史特征具有可塑性：生物体可以提高其生长速率以弥补一段缓慢生长的时期，这种现象被称为“补偿性生长”。我们测试了大蜡螟（Galleria mellonella）幼虫在禁食12、24或72小时后是否能加速生长。我们发现，一部分雌性幼虫在禁食12小时后表现出补偿性生长。持续超过12小时的食物缺乏会导致发育时间延长和体重增加减少。在表现出补偿性生长的雌性中，针对插入血腔的异物的包囊反应强度最弱，而在禁食24和72小时的雄性和雌性中，包囊反应最强。更具体地说，我们发现了性别偏向的免疫反应，即在一组禁食72小时的个体中，雌性的包囊率比雄性更强。总体而言，快速生长的雌性幼虫发育周期短，成年寿命最短。这些结果表明，环境、生活史特征和性别之间高度动态的权衡导致了大蜡螟发育策略/生长速率的可塑性。
