Rapid brain development and reduced neuromodulator titres correlate with host shifts in Rhagoletis pomonella.

ABSTRACT: Host shifts are considered a key generator of insect biodiversity. For insects, adaptation to new host plants often requires changes in larval/pupal development and adult behavioural preference toward new hosts. Neurochemicals play key roles in both development and behaviour and therefore provide a potential source for such synchronization. Here, we correlated life-history timing, brain development and corresponding levels of 14 neurochemicals in Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae), a species undergoing ecological speciation through an ongoing host shift from hawthorn to apple fruit. These races exhibit differences in pupal diapause timing as well as adult behavioural preference with respect to their hosts. This difference in behavioural preference is coupled with difference

SUBMITTER: Kharva H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9449811 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature