A comparison of phase-related shifts in behavior and morphometrics of an albino strain, deficient in [His7]-corazonin, and a normally colored Locusta migratoria strain

Autor: Seiji Tanaka, A. De Loof, B Hoste, Stephen J. Simpson, Michael Breuer
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Insect Physiology. 48:791-801
ISSN: 0022-1910
DOI: 10.1016/s0022-1910(02)00106-3
Popis: The albino Okinawa strain of Locusta migratoria is deficient in the neurohormone [His(7)]-corazonin. This peptide induces darkening of the cuticle, one of the typical features of gregarious locusts. As part of a broader study on the possible role of [His(7)]-corazonin in phase transition, we explored whether corazonin-deficiency might be associated with differences in behavior and morphometrics between albino and normal phenotypes of L. migratoria. Using a modification of the logistic-regression assay of behavioral phase state previously derived for Schistocerca gregaria, we found that there were strain dependent behavioral differences between crowd-reared nymphs of the albino Okinawa and the normally colored African strain, with no evidence of the albino strain being obligatorily solitarious. However, upon isolation, a shift towards more solitarious behavior occurs in both strains, even more profoundly in the Okinawa albinos. A shift could also be recorded in morphometrics. The conclusion is that the albino strain, although showing some solitarious features even when crowd-reared, is not, as has been suggested, obligatory solitarious and, as a consequence, the complete absence of corazonin is not sufficient to bring about the solitarious state.
Databáze: OpenAIRE