Cuticular hydrocarbon divergence in the jewel wasp Nasonia: evolutionary shifts in chemical communication channels?

The evolution and maintenance of intraspecific communication channels constitute a key feature of chemical signalling and sexual communication. However, how divergent chemical communication channels evolve while maintaining their integrity for both sender and receiver is poorly understood. In this study, we compare male and female cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles in the jewel wasp genus Nasonia, analyse their chemical divergence and investigate their role as species-specific sexual signalling cues. Males and females of all four Nasonia species showed unique, nonoverlapping CHC profiles unambiguously separating them. Surprisingly, male and female phylogenies based on the chemical distances between their CHC profiles differed dramatically, where only male CHC divergence parallels the molecular phylogeny of Nasonia. In particular, N. giraulti female CHC profiles were the most divergent from all other species and very different from its most closely related sibling species N. oneida. Furthermore, although our behavioural assays indicate that female CHC profiles can generally be perceived as sexual cues attracting males in Nasonia, this function has apparently been lost in the highly divergent female N. giraulti CHC profiles. Curiously, N. giraulti males are still attracted to heterospecific, but not to conspecific female CHC profiles. We suggest that this striking discrepancy has been caused by an extensive evolutionary shift in female N. giraulti CHC profiles, which are no longer used as conspecific recognition cues. Our study constitutes the first report of an apparent abandonment of a sexual recognition cue that the receiver did not adapt to.

Lysosomal membrane permeabilization and cathepsin release is a Bax/Bak-dependent, amplifying event of apoptosis in fibroblasts and monocytes.

Apoptotic stimuli have been shown to trigger lysosomal membrane permeability (LMP), leading to the release of cathepsins, which activate death signaling pathways in the cytosol. However, it is unknown whether this process is an initiating or amplifying event in apoptosis. In this study, we used fibroblasts and monocytes exposed to etoposide, ultraviolet light, FasL or deprived of interleukin-3 (IL-3) to show that LMP and the cytosolic release of cathepsins B, L and D consistently depends on Bax/Bak and components of the apoptosome. Neither Bax nor Bak resided on the lysosomes, indicating that lysosomes were not directly perforated by Bax/Bak but by effectors downstream of the apoptosome. Detailed kinetic analysis of cells lacking cathepsin B or L or treated with the cysteine protease inhibitor, E64d, revealed a delay in these cells in etoposide- and IL-3 deprivation-induced caspase-3 activation and apoptosis induction but not clonogenic survival, indicating that cathepsins amplify rather than initiate apoptosis.

Behavioral and genetic characteristics of a new species of Nasonia.

Nasonia (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a genus of parasitoid wasps, which is fast emerging as a model system for evolutionary, genetic, developmental and host-endosymbiont interaction studies. In this study, we report a new species, Nasonia oneida, distinguish its behavioral, genetic and morphological features, and characterize its pre-mating and post-mating isolation with the other Nasonia species. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that N. oneida is the sister species to Nasonia giraulti with its own uniquely distinct cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, behavioral characteristics and subtle morphological differences. An important characteristic of N. oneida is the strong mate discrimination shown by the females against all the other Nasonia species. A genetic analysis of this phenotype by interspecies hybridization indicates that this strong discriminating phenotype is recessive. A formal species description of N. oneida Raychoudhury & Desjardins is also provided.