The growth factor BMP11 is required for the development and evolution of a male exaggerated weapon and its associated fighting behavior in a water strider
Fig 3
Effect of BMP11 RNAi on the growth and scaling relationships of various traits in 3 species of Microvelia.
The pronotum in (A) M. longipes and (C) M. sp., but not in (E) M. pulchella, covers the entire mesonotum (brackets in A and C). BMP11 RNAi characteristically reduces the size of the pronotum in M. longipes and M. sp. (brackets in B and D). (E, F) This effect is absent in M. pulchella, consistent with the absence of this trait. (G–L) Only M. sp. males have a set of spines in the third legs (arrowheads in I), which are removed or reduced due to BMP11 RNAi (arrowheads in J). The lengths of the third legs are reduced in adult males and females. Statistical analyses can be found in S6 Table. M. pul stands for M. pulchella. (M–O) Effect of BMP11 RNAi on adult male and female scaling relationships between leg length and body length of M. longipes (M), M. sp. (N), and M. pulchella (O). Statistical analyses can be found in S6 Table. Comparisons of adult static allometries for each species between controls and BMP11 RNAi for males and females are shown in the keys below graphs. Linear regressions were fitted to the log-transformed datasets. Samples sizes for each species are indicated in the panels. Statistical analyses were also performed on log-transformed data and can be found in S6 Table. The data underlying this figure may be found in S6 and S7 Tables. BMP11, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 11; RNAi, RNA interference.