Gain of long tonic immobility behavioral trait causes the red flour beetle to reduce anti-stress capacity

- Tonic immobility behavior of Tribolium castaneum is a predator defense mechanism.
- Beetles with long duration of immobility are in a minority in their natural habitat.
- Beetles with tonic immobility (L-type) and without such a behavior (S-type) were selected.
- L-type beetles are significantly more sensitive to various stressors than S-type animals.
- Catalase and growth-blocking peptide expression was higher in S-type than in L-type beetles.

Tonic immobility (death-feigning) behavior of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is a predator defense mechanism; it is a reflex elicited when a beetle is jarred with the substrate, often a result of the activities of a predator. We previously demonstrated that the frequency of predation by a jumping spider, Hasarius adansoni, was significantly lower among beetles with higher frequencies and longer durations of tonic immobility (L-type) than those with lower frequencies and shorter durations of tonic immobility (S-type). However, we found that the population of L-type beetles is much smaller than that of S-type beetles in their natural habitat. Here we demonstrated that L-type beetles are significantly more sensitive to environmental stressors such as mechanical vibration and high or low temperatures. We measured expression levels of stress-responsive genes such as heat shock proteins (Hsps) and antioxidant enzymes in both types of beetles. Among the genes we investigated, only catalase gene expression levels were significantly higher in S-type than in L-type beetles. Furthermore, a similar difference in the gene expression was observed in the T. castaneum ortholog of the insect cytokine growth-blocking peptide (GBP) gene. These results indicate the possibility that high expression of catalase and GBP in S-type beetles contributes to augmentation of their anti-stress capacity and expansion of their population in their natural habitat.