IEGEBA 24053
INSTITUTO DE ECOLOGIA, GENETICA Y EVOLUCION DE BUENOS AIRES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Evidence of selection on phenotypic plasticity and cost of plasticity in response to host-feeding sources in the major Chagas disease vectorTriatoma infestans
Autor/es:
NATTERO JULIETA; LEONHARD GUSTAVO; GÜRTLER RICARDO; CROCCO LILIANA
Revista:
ACTA TROPICA
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 152 p. 237 - 244
ISSN:
0001-706X
Resumen:
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to display alternative phenotypes in different environ-ments. Understanding how plasticity evolves and the factors that favor and constrain its evolution haveattracted great interest. We investigated whether selection on phenotypic plasticity and costs of plas-ticity affect head and wing morphology in response to host-feeding sources in the major Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans. Full-sib families were assigned to blood-feeding on either live pigeons or guineapigs throughout their lives. We measured diet-induced phenotypic plasticity on wing and head size andshape; characterized selection on phenotypic plasticity for female and male fecundity rates, and eval-uated costs of plasticity. Wing size and shape variables exhibited significant differences in phenotypicplasticity associated with host-feeding source in female and male bugs. Evidence of selection on pheno-typic plasticity was detected in head size and shape for guinea pig-fed females. A lower female fecundityrate was detected in more plastic families for traits that showed selection on plasticity. These results pro-vide insights into the morphological phenotypic plasticity of T. infestans, documenting fitness advantagesof head size and shape for females fed on guinea pigs. This vector species showed measurable benefitsof responding plastically to environmental variation rather than adopting a fixed development plan. Thepresence of cost of plasticity suggests constraints on the evolution of plasticity. Our study indicates thatfemales fed on guinea pigs (and perhaps on other suitable mammalian hosts) have greater chances ofevolving under selection on phenotypic plasticity subject to some constraints.
