Pérez-Sayas Consuelo, Pina Tatiana, Gómez-Martínez María A, Camañes Gemma, Ibáñez-Gual María V, Jaques Josep A, Hurtado Mónica A
Departament de Ciències Agràries i del Medi Natural, Unitat Associada d'Entomologia UJI-IVIA, Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Campus del Riu Sec, 12071, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
Departament de Ciències Agràries i del Medi Natural, Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Campus del Riu Sec, 12071, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
Mol Ecol Resour. 2015 Nov;15(6):1330-45. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12409. Epub 2015 May 7.
Gut content analysis using molecular techniques can help elucidate predator-prey relationships in situations in which other methodologies are not feasible, such as in the case of trophic interactions between minute species such as mites. We designed species-specific primers for a mite community occurring in Spanish citrus orchards comprising two herbivores, the Tetranychidae Tetranychus urticae and Panonychus citri, and six predatory mites belonging to the Phytoseiidae family; these predatory mites are considered to be these herbivores' main biological control agents. These primers were successfully multiplexed in a single PCR to test the range of predators feeding on each of the two prey species. We estimated prey DNA detectability success over time (DS50), which depended on the predator-prey combination and ranged from 0.2 to 18 h. These values were further used to weight prey detection in field samples to disentangle the predatory role played by the most abundant predators (i.e. Euseius stipulatus and Phytoseiulus persimilis). The corrected predation value for E. stipulatus was significantly higher than for P. persimilis. However, because this 1.5-fold difference was less than that observed regarding their sevenfold difference in abundance, we conclude that P. persimilis is the most effective predator in the system; it preyed on tetranychids almost five times more frequently than E. stipulatus did. The present results demonstrate that molecular tools are appropriate to unravel predator-prey interactions in tiny species such as mites, which include important agricultural pests and their predators.
利用分子技术进行肠道内容物分析，有助于在其他方法不可行的情况下阐明捕食者与猎物的关系，比如在螨虫等微小物种之间的营养相互作用中。我们针对西班牙柑橘园中出现的螨类群落设计了物种特异性引物，该群落包括两种植食性螨类，即叶螨科的二斑叶螨和柑橘全爪螨，以及六种属于植绥螨科的捕食性螨类；这些捕食性螨类被认为是这些植食性螨类的主要生物防治剂。这些引物在单个聚合酶链式反应（PCR）中成功实现了多重扩增，以测试以这两种猎物为食的捕食者范围。我们估计了随着时间推移猎物DNA的可检测成功率（DS50），其取决于捕食者与猎物的组合，范围为0.2至18小时。这些值进一步用于权衡田间样本中猎物的检测情况，以厘清最丰富的捕食者（即斯氏钝绥螨和智利小植绥螨）所发挥的捕食作用。斯氏钝绥螨的校正捕食值显著高于智利小植绥螨。然而，由于这1.5倍的差异小于它们在丰度上7倍的差异，我们得出结论，智利小植绥螨是该系统中最有效的捕食者；它捕食叶螨的频率几乎比斯氏钝绥螨高五倍。目前的结果表明，分子工具适用于揭示螨虫等微小物种之间的捕食者与猎物相互作用，这些物种包括重要的农业害虫及其捕食者。
