Canalization and developmental stability of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus favicollis) mandible and cranium related to age and nematode parasitism
2021
Authors:
Jojić, VidaČabrilo, Borislav
Bjelić-Čabrilo, Olivera
Jovanović, Vladimir
Budinski, Ivana
Vujošević, Mladen
Blagojević, Jelena
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Background: Mammalian mandible and cranium are well‑established model systems for studying canalization
and developmental stability (DS) as two elements of developmental homeostasis. Nematode infections are usually
acquired in early life and increase in intensity with age, while canalization and DS of rodent skulls could vary through
late postnatal ontogeny. We aimed to estimate magnitudes and describe patterns of mandibular and cranial canaliza‑
tion and DS related to age and parasite intensity (diversity) in adult yellow‑necked mice (Apodemus favicollis).
Results: We found the absence of age‑related changes in the levels of canalization for mandibular and cranial size
and DS for mandibular size. However, individual measures of mandibular and cranial shape variance increased, while
individual measures of mandibular shape fuctuating asymmetry (FA) decreased with age. We detected mandibular
and cranial shape changes during postnatal ontogeny, but revealed no age‑related dynamics of their covariance
structure among and within individuals. Categories regarding parasitism difered in the level of canalization for cranial
size and the level of DS for cranial shape. We observed diferences in age‑related dynamics of the level of canalization
between non‑parasitized and parasitized animals, as well as between yellow‑necked mice parasitized by diferent
number of nematode species. Likewise, individual measures of mandibular and cranial shape FA decreased with age
for the mandible in the less parasitized category and increased for the cranium in the most parasitized category.
Conclusions: Our age‑related results partly agree with previous fndings. However, no rodent study so far has
explored age‑related changes in the magnitude of FA for mandibular size or mandibular and cranial FA covariance
structure. This is the frst study dealing with the nematode parasitism‑related canalization and DS in rodents. We
showed that nematode parasitism does not afect mandibular and cranial shape variation and covariance structure
among and within individuals. However, parasite intensity (diversity) is related to ontogenetic dynamics of the levels
of canalization and DS. Overall, additional studies on animals from natural populations are required before drawing
some general conclusions.
Keywords:
Covariation; Developmental homeostasis; Developmental instability; Fluctuating asymmetry; 2D Geometric morphometrics; Intestinal helminths; Mammals; Skull; Postnatal ontogeny; RodentsSource:
Frontiers in Zoology, 2021, 18, 55-Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200007 (University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković') (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200007)
- Genetic and phenetic diversity in natural populations across different environments - contribution of B chromosome polymorphism (RS-MESTD-Basic Research (BR or ON)-173003)
DOI: 10.1186/s12983-021-00439-4
ISSN: 1742-9994
PubMed: 34689812