rearing-long-term-maintenance-eristalis-tenax-hoverflies-for-research

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of <em>Eristalis tenax</em> Hoverflies for Research Studies

With an estimated 6000 species worldwide, hoverflies are ecologically important as alternative pollinators to domesticated honeybees. However, they are ...

Uppsala University

For proper development, cells need to coordinate proliferation and cell cycle-exit. This is mediated by a cascade of proteins making sure that each phase of the cell cycle is controlled before the initiation of the next. Retinal progenitor cells divide during the process of interkinetic nuclear migration, where they undergo S-phase on the basal side, followed by mitoses on the apical side of the neuroepithelium. The final cell cycle of chicken retinal horizontal cells (HCs) is an exception to this general cell cycle behavior. Lim1 expressing (+) horizontal progenitor cells (HPCs) have a heterogenic final cell cycle, with some cells undergoing a terminal mitosis on the basal side of the retina. The results in this study show that this terminal basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs is not dependent on Chk1/2 for its regulation compared to retinal cells undergoing interkinetic nuclear migration. Neither activating nor blocking Chk1 had an effect on the basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs. Furthermore, the Lim1+ HPCs were not sensitive to cisplatin-induced DNA damage and were able to continue into mitosis in the presence of γ-H2AX without activation of caspase-3. However, Nutlin3a-induced expression of p21 did reduce the mitoses, suggesting the presence of a functional p53/p21 response in HPCs. In contrast, the apical mitoses were blocked upon activation of either Chk1/2 or p21, indicating the importance of these proteins during the process of interkinetic nuclear migration. Inhibiting Cdk1 blocked M-phase transition both for apical and basal mitoses. This confirmed that the cyclin B1-Cdk1 complex was active and functional during the basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs. The regulation of the final cell cycle of Lim1+ HPCs is of particular interest since it has been shown that the HCs are able to sustain persistent DNA damage, remain in the cell cycle for an extended period of time and, consequently, survive for months.

The terminal basal mitosis of chicken retinal Lim1 horizontal cells is not sensitive to cisplatin-induced cell cycle arrest.

Hoverflies are found across the globe, with approximately 6000 species described worldwide. Many hoverflies are being used in agriculture and some are emerging as model species for laboratory experiments. As such it is valuable to know more about their activity. Like many other dipteran flies, Eristalis hoverflies have been suggested to be strongly diurnal, but this is based on qualitative visualization by human observers. To quantify how hoverfly activity depends on internal and external factors, we here utilize a locomotor activity monitoring system. We show that Eristalis hoverflies are active during the entire light period when exposed to a 12 h light:12 h dark cycle, with a lower activity if exposed to light during the night. We show that the hoverflies' locomotor activity is stable over their lifetime and that it does not depend on the diet provided. Surprisingly, we find no difference in activity between males and females, but the activity is significantly affected by the sex of an accompanying conspecific. Finally, we show that female hoverflies are more resilient to starvation than males. In summary, Eristalis hoverflies are resilient to a range of internal and external factors, supporting their use in long-term laboratory experiments.

Hoverfly locomotor activity is resilient to external influence and intrinsic factors.

On warm sunny days female hoverflies are often observed feeding from a wide range of wild and cultivated flowers. In doing so, hoverflies serve a vital role as alternative pollinators, and suggested to be the most important after bees and bumblebees. Unless the flower hoverflies are feeding from is large, they do not readily share the space with other insects, but instead opt to leave. We have used high-speed videography followed by 3D reconstruction of flight trajectories to quantify how female  hoverflies respond to approaching bees, wasps and two different hoverfly species. We found that in 94% of the interactions the occupant female left the flower when approached by another insect. We found that compared to spontaneous take-offs, the occupant hoverfly's escape response was performed at ∼3 times higher speed (spontaneous take-off at 0.2±0.05 m/s compared with 0.55±0.08 m/s when approached by another ). The hoverflies tended to take off upward and forward, while taking the incomer's approach angle into account. Intriguingly, we found when approached by wasps that the occupant  took off at a higher speed and when the wasp was further away. This suggests that feeding hoverflies may be able to distinguish these predators, demanding impressive visual capabilities. Our results, including quantification of the visual information available before occupant take-off, provide important insight into how freely behaving hoverflies perform escape responses from competitors and predators (e.g. wasps) in the wild.

Malin Thyselius

Department of Neuroscience

Uppsala University

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Malin Thyselius

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Neuroscience

Uppsala University

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Department of Neuroscience