Villacis-Perez Ernesto, De Graeve Femke, De Beer Berdien, Ali Alshami Seham, De Jong Rick, De Meyer Tim, Van Leeuwen Thomas
Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Mol Ecol. 2025 Aug;34(16):e17618. doi: 10.1111/mec.17618. Epub 2024 Dec 16.
Interactions between plants and herbivores promote evolutionary change. Studying the evolution of herbivore mechanisms aimed to cope with different host plant species is a critical intersection between evolutionary biology and sustainable pest management. Generalist herbivores are of particular interest, as hybridization between genetically distinct populations can increase the standing genetic variation and therefore the adaptive potential of the species. Tetranychus urticae is a generalist arthropod known for its adaptive potential, evidenced in its immense host range and ability to develop metabolic resistance to xenobiotics. However, the molecular underpinnings associated with the potential of host adaptation and the consequences of host adaptation in this, and many other pests remain elusive. Here, we use two independent, empirical approaches to identify and map the genetic basis of host plant performance and adaptation in genetically distinct populations of T. urticae. In the first approach, we subject a genetically diverse mite population to tomato selection and map genomic regions linked to the phenotypic evolution of increased reproductive performance. In the second approach, we map genomic regions responsible for performance on tomato by comparing the genomes of pooled individuals from an F2 backcross between populations with high and low reproductive performance. Both approaches revealed specific and shared genomic regions associated with host plant performance and adaptation and key candidate genes were identified. Our findings highlight the power of spider mite genetic approaches to identify the complex genetic basis of host adaptation in generalist herbivores.
植物与食草动物之间的相互作用推动了进化变化。研究旨在应对不同寄主植物物种的食草动物机制的进化，是进化生物学与可持续害虫管理的关键交叉点。多食性食草动物尤其令人关注，因为基因不同的种群之间的杂交可以增加现存的遗传变异，从而提高物种的适应潜力。二斑叶螨是一种以其适应潜力而闻名的多食性节肢动物，这在其广泛的寄主范围以及对异生素产生代谢抗性的能力中得到了体现。然而，与寄主适应潜力相关的分子基础以及在这种害虫和许多其他害虫中寄主适应的后果仍然难以捉摸。在这里，我们使用两种独立的实证方法来识别和绘制二斑叶螨基因不同种群中寄主植物表现和适应的遗传基础。在第一种方法中，我们让一个基因多样的螨种群接受番茄选择，并绘制与繁殖性能提高的表型进化相关的基因组区域。在第二种方法中，我们通过比较来自高繁殖性能和低繁殖性能种群之间的F2回交的混合个体的基因组，绘制负责在番茄上表现的基因组区域。两种方法都揭示了与寄主植物表现和适应相关的特定和共享的基因组区域，并鉴定出了关键候选基因。我们的研究结果突出了叶螨遗传方法在识别多食性食草动物寄主适应复杂遗传基础方面的作用。
