Influence of aging on brain and web characteristics of an orb web spider

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Abstract

In animals, it is known that age affects the abilities of the brain. In spiders, we showed that aging affects web characteristics due to behavioral alterations during web building. In this study, we investigated the effects of age on the associations between morphological changes to the spider brain and changes in web characteristics. The orb web spider Zygiella x- notata (Araneae, Araneidae) was used to test these relationships. Experiments were conducted on young (19 ± 2 days after adult molt, N = 13) and old (146 ± 32 days, N = 20) virgin females. The brain volume decreased with age (by 10%). Age also had an impact on the number of anomalies in the capture area generated during web building. The statistical relationships between the volume of the brain and web characteristics showed that there was an effect of age on both. Our results showed that in spiders, aging affects the brain volume and correlates with characteristics (anomalies) of the web. As web building is the result of complex behavioral processes, we suggest that aging affects spider behavior by causing some brain alterations.

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The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the principal model organisms used for studying the biology of aging. Flies are well suited for such studies for a number of reasons. Flies develop to adulthood quickly, have a relatively short life span, and are inexpensive to house. Most of the fly genome has been sequenced, powerful genetic tools are available to manipulate it, and most fly genes have obvious homologues in mammals. While the majority of aging studies in flies have focused on regulation of life span, the fly is emerging as a powerful model system for investigating the biology that underlies age-related functional decline. Key to the use of flies in this way is the striking number of parallels between functional senescence in Drosophila and humans. Here, we review age-related functional declines in Drosophila, human correlates of these age-related declines, and common mechanisms that influence longevity and specific aspects of functional senescence in flies.

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The reproductive and defensive behaviors that are initiated in response to specific sensory cues can provide insight into how choices are made between different social behaviors. We manipulated both the activity and sex of a subset of neurons and found significant changes in male social behavior. Results from aggression assays indicate that the neuromodulator octopamine (OCT) is necessary for Drosophila males to coordinate sensory cue information presented by a second male and respond with the appropriate behavior: aggression rather than courtship. In competitive male courtship assays, males with no OCT or with low OCT levels do not adapt to changing sensory cues and court both males and females. We identified a small subset of neurons in the suboesophageal ganglion region of the adult male brain that coexpress OCT and male forms of the neural sex determination factor, Fruitless (Fru(M)). A single Fru(M)-positive OCT neuron sends extensive bilateral arborizations to the suboesophageal ganglion, the lateral accessory lobe, and possibly the posterior antennal lobe, suggesting a mechanism for integrating multiple sensory modalities. Furthermore, eliminating the expression of Fru(M) by transformer expression in OCT/tyramine neurons changes the aggression versus courtship response behavior. These results provide insight into how complex social behaviors are coordinated in the nervous system and suggest a role for neuromodulators in the functioning of male-specific circuitry relating to behavioral choice.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Alain Pasquet: alain.pasquet@univ-lorraine.fr

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Ethol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Ethol

Title: Journal of Ethology

Publisher: Springer Japan (Tokyo )

ISSN (Print): 0289-0771

ISSN (Electronic): 1439-5444

Publication date (Electronic): 23 November 2017

Publication date PMC-release: 23 November 2017

Publication date (Print): 2018

Volume: 36

Issue: 1

Pages: 85-91

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2194 6418, GRID grid.29172.3f, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, , University of Lorraine, UR AFPA, USC INRA n° 340, ; BP 239, Bld des Aiguillettes, 54506 Vandoeuvre-Les-Nancy, France

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2149 7878, GRID grid.410511.0, University of Paris-Est, Ecole nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort, UMR 7179 CNRS MNHN, ; 94704 Maisons-Alfort, France

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2112 9282, GRID grid.4444.0, CNRS, National Centre for Scientific Research, ; Paris, France

Article

Publisher ID: 530

DOI: 10.1007/s10164-017-0530-z

PMC ID: 6323080

SO-VID: 62c4bc86-fd7f-4071-b455-b9b4aeb5d0aa

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Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

History

Date received : 3 February 2017

Date accepted : 2 November 2017

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Keywords: aging,brain,morphological parameters,web construction,orb web spider

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Keywords: aging, brain, morphological parameters, web construction, orb web spider

Influence of aging on brain and web characteristics of an orb web spider

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Abstract

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Aging Pathobiology and Therapeutics

Most cited references 41

Functional senescence in Drosophila melanogaster.

The use of animal models to study the effects of aging on cognition.

Modulation of Drosophila male behavioral choice.

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