Extreme developmental instability associated with wing plasticity in pea aphids.

ABSTRACT: A key focus of evolutionary developmental biology is on how phenotypic diversity is generated. In particular, both plasticity and developmental instability contribute to phenotypic variation among genetically identical individuals, but the interactions between the two phenomena and their general fitness impacts are unclear. We discovered a striking example of asymmetry in pea aphids: the presence of wings on one side and the complete or partial absence of wings on the opposite side. We used this asymmetric phenotype to study the connection between plasticity, developmental instability and fitness. We found that this asymmetric wing development (i) occurred equally on both sides and thus is a developmental instability; (ii) is present in some genetically unique lines but not others, and thu

SUBMITTER: Hammelman RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7661304 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature