Insect hibernation: Colorado potato beetles break down and regrow their muscles on demand

Colorado potato beetles lose nearly all of the mitochondria of their muscle tissue throughout hibernation, however regrow them in time to start out flying within the spring

By Luke Taylor

Some beetles can shed most of their muscle in the course of the winter and rebuild it by spring with out transferring, prepared for flight, researchers have discovered.

The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) can survive as much as 4 months buried beneath the snow in Canada with temperatures dropping to -20°C. Throughout hibernation, it slows its metabolism by as a lot as 90 per cent to avoid wasting power, however the way it does this was poorly understood.

To research, Jacqueline Lebenzon at Western College in London, Canada, and her colleagues mimicked …