High Nutritional Conditions Influence Feeding Plasticity in Pristionchus pacificus and Render Worms Non‐Predatory

• Published in: Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution Vol. 344; no. 2; pp. 94 - 111
• Main Authors: Piskobulu, Veysi, Athanasouli, Marina, Witte, Hanh, Feldhaus, Christian, Streit, Adrian, Sommer, Ralf J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley and Sons Inc 01.03.2025
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - genetics; Animals; developmental plasticity; Diet; Environment; fatty acids; Feeding Behavior; Glucose; Mouth - growth & development; nutrition; Nutritional Status - physiology; Oleic Acid; polyphenism; Predatory Behavior; Pristionchus pacificus; Rhabditida - genetics; Rhabditida - growth & development; Rhabditida - physiology; Self-Fertilization; glucose; nutrition; Pristionchus pacificus; fatty acids; polyphenism; developmental plasticity
• ISSN: 1552-5007; 1552-5015; 1552-5015
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23284

ABSTRACT Developmental plasticity, the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to environmental conditions, has been subject to intense studies in the last four decades. The self‐fertilising nematode Pristionchus pacificus has been developed as a genetic model system for studying developmental plasticity due to its mouth‐form polyphenism that results in alternative feeding strategies with a facultative predatory and non‐predatory mouth form. Many studies linked molecular aspects of the regulation of mouth‐form polyphenism with investigations of its evolutionary and ecological significance. Also, several environmental factors influencing P. pacificus feeding structure expression were identified including temperature, culture condition and population density. However, the nutritional plasticity of the mouth form has never been properly investigated although polyphenisms are known to be influenced by changes in nutritional conditions. For instance, studies in eusocial insects and scarab beetles have provided significant mechanistic insights into the nutritional regulation of polyphenisms but also other forms of plasticity. Here, we study the influence of nutrition on mouth‐form polyphenism in P. pacificus through experiments with monosaccharide and fatty acid supplementation. We show that in particular glucose supplementation renders worms non‐predatory. Subsequent transcriptomic and mutant analyses indicate that de novo fatty acid synthesis and peroxisomal beta‐oxidation pathways play an important role in the mediation of this plastic response. Finally, the analysis of fitness consequences through fecundity counts suggests that non‐predatory animals have an advantage over predatory animals grown in the glucose‐supplemented condition. Some nematodes exhibit mouth‐form polyphenism resulting in different feeding strategies including predation. In this study, Piskobulu and co‐workers investigate the influence of glucose supplementation on mouth‐form expression and find that higher glucose levels render worms non‐predatory. Thus, nutritional status influences mouth‐form polyphenism in nematodes.