Novel predator-induced phenotypic plasticity by hemoglobin and physiological changes in the brain of Xenopus tropicalis.

ABSTRACT: Organisms adapt to changes in their environment to survive. The emergence of predators is an example of environmental change, and organisms try to change their external phenotypic systems and physiological mechanisms to adapt to such changes. In general, prey exhibit different phenotypes to predators owing to historically long-term prey-predator interactions. However, when presented with a novel predator, the extent and rate of phenotypic plasticity in prey are largely unknown. Therefore, exploring the physiological adaptive response of organisms to novel predators is a crucial topic in physiology and evolutionary biology. Counterintuitively, Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles do not exhibit distinct external phenotypes when exposed to new predation threats. Accordingly, we examined the br

SUBMITTER: Mori T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10279953 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature