Morph-specific protein patterns in the femoral gland secretions of a colour polymorphic lizard.
Sci Rep
; 9(1): 8412, 2019 06 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31182789
ABSTRACT
Colour polymorphism occurs when two or more genetically-based colour morphs permanently coexist within an interbreeding population. Colouration is usually associated to other life-history traits (ecological, physiological, behavioural, reproductive
) of the bearer, thus being the phenotypic marker of such set of genetic features. This visual badge may be used to inform conspecifics and to drive those decision making processes which may contribute maintaining colour polymorphism under sexual selection context. The importance of such information suggests that other communication modalities should be recruited to ensure its transfer in case visual cues were insufficient. Here, for the first time, we investigated the potential role of proteins from femoral gland secretions in signalling colour morph in a polymorphic lizard. As proteins are thought to convey identity-related information, they represent the ideal cues to build up the chemical modality used to badge colour morphs. We found strong evidence for the occurrence of morph-specific protein profiles in the three main colour-morphs of the common wall lizard, which showed both qualitative and quantitative differences in protein expression. As lizards are able to detect proteins by tongue-flicking and vomeronasal organ, this result support the hypothesis that colour polymorphic lizards may use a multimodal signal to inform about colour-morph.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Pigmentación
/
Proteínas
/
Estructuras Animales
/
Lagartos
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Año:
2019
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia