An alkaloid fraction extracted from the cactus Trichocereus terscheckii affects fitness in the cactophilic fly Drosophila buzzatii (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
The host‐plant environment of phytophagous insects directly affects various aspects of an insect's life cycle. Interestingly, relatively few insect groups have specialized in the exploitation of plants in the Cactaceae family, potentially because of the chemical and ecological challenges impose...
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Published in | Biological journal of the Linnean Society Vol. 109; no. 2; pp. 342 - 353 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.06.2013
Oxford University Press |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The host‐plant environment of phytophagous insects directly affects various aspects of an insect's life cycle. Interestingly, relatively few insect groups have specialized in the exploitation of plants in the Cactaceae family, potentially because of the chemical and ecological challenges imposed by these plants. The cactophilic Drosophila buzzatii Patterson & Wheeler, 1942 is a well‐studied model in evolutionary ecology, partially because of its ability to exploit toxic cactus hosts. Previous studies have shown a negative effect on performance when flies are reared in an alternative columnar cactus host of the genus Trichocereus, relative to its primary cactus host, Opuntia. These observations were attributed to the presence of alkaloids in Trichocereus tissues, a chemical deterrent to herbivores that indirectly affects Drosophila larvae; however, the putative toxic effect of alkaloids has never been tested directly in D. buzzatii. The present study is the first attempt to relate chemical extracts in Trichocereus terscheckii Britton & Rose, 1920 with detrimental effects on D. buzzatii. We assessed the effects of a crude alkaloid extract, rich in phenylethylamines, and a ‘non‐alkaloid fraction’ on viability and adult wing morphology. Our results indicate that rearing larvae on an artificial diet containing different concentrations of the crude alkaloid extract decreased pupal viability and adult size in a concentration‐dependent manner. We discuss the role of cactus alkaloids in the evolution of host‐plant use in cactophilic flies. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109, 342–353. |
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Bibliography: | istex:C923B3F6B65CEFC5B905BEEA962A52D6511ECAAB Universidad de Buenos Aires. J.P. and M.I.L.B. are postgraduate fellows of CONICET ark:/67375/WNG-LH85LRNT-Q Table S1. Mean viability (and standard error) for each treatment (A1-A3 and NA1-NA3 represent three different concentrations of the alkaloid and non-alkaloid fractions, respectively; ten replicates each, see text for details). Pupal mortality was calculated as the difference between total and larval viability. Entries in bolded differed significantly from the control (P < 0.05 in Dunnett tests, see text for more details). Table S2. Mean wing size (expressed as the logarithm of centroid size) and standard error (between parentheses) for each treatment (A1-A3 and NA1-NA3 represent three different concentrations of the alkaloid and non-alkaloid fractions, respectively; see text for details) and sex. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET) ArticleID:BIJ12036 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0024-4066 1095-8312 |
DOI: | 10.1111/bij.12036 |