High nutritional conditions influence feeding plasticity inPristionchus pacificusand render worms non-predatory

Abstract

AbstractDevelopmental 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-fertilizing nematodePristionchus pacificushas 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 a 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 influencingP. pacificusfeeding 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 inP. pacificusthrough experiments with monosaccharide and fatty acid supplementation. We show that in particular glucose supplementation renders worms non-predatory. Subsequent transcriptomic and mutant analyses indicate thatde novofatty 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.Research highlightsThis study represents the first systematic attempt to investigate the influence of nutrition on mouth-form polyphenism in the genetic model organismPristionchus pacificus. Through glucose and oleic acid supplementation we show that high nutritional conditions influence feeding plasticity and render worms non-predatory. Mutant analysis indicates a role ofde novofatty acid synthesis and peroxisomal beta-oxidation pathways for these responses.