A β-carotene-binding protein carrying a red pigment regulates body-color transition between green and black in locusts.

Changes of body color have important effects for animals in adapting to variable environments. The migratory locust exhibits body color polyphenism between solitary and gregarious individuals, with the former displaying a uniform green coloration and the latter having a prominent pattern of black dorsal and brown ventral surface. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the density-dependent body color changes of conspecific locusts remain largely unknown. Here, we found that upregulation of β-carotene-binding protein promotes the accumulation of red pigment, which added to the green color palette present in solitary locusts changes it from green to black, and that downregulation of this protein led to the reverse, changing the color of gregarious locusts from black to green. Our results provide insight that color changes of locusts are dependent on variation in the red β-carotene pigment binding to βCBP. This finding of animal coloration corresponds with trichromatic theory of color vision.