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Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Callier, V; Nijhout, HF
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
August 2011

Body size profoundly affects many aspects of animal biology, including metamorphosis, allometry, size-dependent alternative pathways of gene expression, and the social and ecological roles of individuals. However, regulation of body size is one of the fundamental unsolved problems in developmental biology. The control of body size requires a mechanism that assesses size and stops growth within a characteristic range of sizes. Under normal growth conditions in Manduca sexta, the endocrine cascade that causes the brain to initiate metamorphosis starts when the larva reaches a critical weight. Metamorphosis is initiated by a size-sensing mechanism, but the nature of this mechanism has remained elusive. Here we show that this size-sensing mechanism depends on the limited ability of a fixed tracheal system to sustain the oxygen supply to a growing individual. As body mass increases, the demand for oxygen also increases, but the fixed tracheal system does not allow a corresponding increase in oxygen supply. We show that interinstar molting has the same size-related oxygen-dependent mechanism of regulation as metamorphosis. We show that low oxygen tension induces molting at smaller body size, consistent with the hypothesis that under normal growth conditions, body size is regulated by a mechanism that senses oxygen limitation. We also found that under poor growth conditions, larvae may never attain the critical weight but eventually molt regardless. We show that under these conditions, larvae do not use the critical weight mechanism, but instead use a size-independent mechanism that is independent of the brain.

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Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

August 2011

Volume

108

Issue

35

Start / End Page

14664 / 14669

Related Subject Headings

  • Respiration
  • Oxygen
  • Metamorphosis, Biological
  • Manduca
  • Larva
  • Body Size
  • Animals
 

Citation

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Callier, V., & Nijhout, H. F. (2011). Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(35), 14664–14669. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106556108
Callier, Viviane, and H Frederik Nijhout. “Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108, no. 35 (August 2011): 14664–69. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106556108.
Callier V, Nijhout HF. Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011 Aug;108(35):14664–9.
Callier, Viviane, and H. Frederik Nijhout. “Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 108, no. 35, Aug. 2011, pp. 14664–69. Epmc, doi:10.1073/pnas.1106556108.
Callier V, Nijhout HF. Control of body size by oxygen supply reveals size-dependent and size-independent mechanisms of molting and metamorphosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011 Aug;108(35):14664–14669.
Journal cover image

Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

August 2011

Volume

108

Issue

35

Start / End Page

14664 / 14669

Related Subject Headings

  • Respiration
  • Oxygen
  • Metamorphosis, Biological
  • Manduca
  • Larva
  • Body Size
  • Animals