Phosphoglucose isomerase genotype affects running speed and heat shock protein expression after exposure to extreme temperatures in a montane willow beetle.

Eastern Sierra Nevada populations of the willow beetle Chrysomela aeneicollis commonly experience stressfully high and low environmental temperatures that may influence survival and reproduction. Allele frequencies at the enzyme locus phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) vary across a climatic latitudinal gradient in these populations, with PGI allele 1 being most common in cooler regions and PGI allele 4 in warmer ones. PGI genotypes differ in heat and cold tolerance and in expression of a 70 kDa heat shock protein. Here we examine genetic, behavioral and environmental factors affecting a performance character, running speed, for willow beetles, and assess effects of consecutive cold and heat exposure on running speed and expression of Hsp70 in the laboratory. In nature, running speed depends on air temperature and is higher for males than females. Mating beetles ran faster than single beetles, and differences among PGI genotypes in male running speed depended on the presence of females. In the laboratory, exposure to cold reduced subsequent running speed, but the amount of this reduction depended on PGI genotype and previous thermal history. Effects of exposure to heat also depended on life history stage and PGI genotype. Adults possessing allele 1 ran fastest after a single exposure to stressful temperature, whereas those possessing allele 4 ran faster after repeated exposure. Larvae possessing allele 4 ran fastest after a single stressful exposure, but running speed generally declined after a second exposure to stressful temperature. The ranking of PGI genotypes after the second exposure depended on whether a larva had been exposed to cold or heat. Effects of temperature on Hsp70 expression also varied among PGI genotypes and depended on type of exposure, especially for adults (single heat exposure, two cold exposures: PGI 1-1>1-4>4-4; other multiple extreme exposures: 4-4>1-4>1-1). There was no consistent association between alleles at other polymorphic enzyme loci and running speed or Hsp70 expression. These data suggest that variation at PGI is associated with considerable plasticity in running speed. Differences in Hsp70 expression among PGI genotypes suggest that the heat-shock response may buffer differences in thermal tolerance and performance among genotypes and help maintain the PGI polymorphism in a thermally variable environment.