Fig. 8

Models for a the regulation of whole-body and tissue-specific plasticity and b the abdominal melanization illustrating how temperature affects melanin production. a Environmental sensitivity in shared structural genes lead to whole-body phenotypic plasticity (top panels), while environmental sensitivity in tissue-specific pre-pattern mechanism leads to tissue-specific phenotypic plasticity (bottom panels). b In Oncopeltus, Hox genes specify the segments that can produce melanins. Subsequently, temperature affects the regulatory mechanism underlying specification of the size and shape of the abdominal melanic elements. Melanin biosynthesis enzymes, such as DDC, then produce melanin in these regions