The reeler gene showed a distinct expression pattern, with the maximum transcript levels being detected in the 5th instar nymphs followed by the 2nd instar nymphs.
In AyFib-042, GAL4 expression can be detected only after the middle or late stage of fifth instar larvae, whereas in AyFib-431a its expression was detected at an earlier stage, namely, in the third instar larvae and, occasionally, even in the first instar larvae (data not shown).
Phase differences in the 5th instar and adult stage are highly similar, but the 3rd instar and 4th instar are unique.
Although TG activity was undetectable before the second instar larval stage, it dramatically increased in the third instar larval stage.
The differences between instars in our study may also be due to the fact that, although we controlled for herbivore weight, the number of feeding caterpillars was much higher in the second instar herbivory treatment than in the 5th instar treatments.
The transcript level of both Bbx and InR increased gradually in the course of the instar (Figure 10).
Projection interneurones (PNs) from the gregarious desert locusts were found to be more sensitive to odour stimuli than the solitary ones in the 3rd instar [49], whereas the opposite was true in the 5th instar [50].
Variance in brightness values was highest in the 4th instar, and dl larvae are at their darkest during the fifth instar (Fig. 2).
Phase differences in the 3rd instar deviated somewhat from those in egg, and 1st and 2nd instars, showing a shift to amino acid metabolism and an increase in various functional categories, indicating a transition in the 3rd instar from the influence of parental effects to the self sense of environmental effects.
Surprisingly, however, similarly missing neurons were observed in the 3rd instar larvae (n = 16) (Fig. 7E,F) and even in the first instar larvae (n = 3) (data not shown) with 100% penetrance.
