Polymorphism in a flea beetle for the ability to use an atypical host plant

Jong, Peter W. de; Nielsen, Jens Kvist

doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0609

Cited by 22 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…For these reasons, the interaction between B. vulgaris and P. nemorum has been suggested as an example of plant-herbivore coevolution (de Jong and Nielsen 1999;Nielsen and de Jong 2005;Thompson 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Genetic and geographic structure of an insect resistant and a susceptible type of Barbarea vulgaris in western Europe

2011

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Interactions between herbivores and plants are believed to have been important drivers of biodiversity. However, to drive an initial resistance divergence into different evolutionary lineages and taxa, these interactions have probably been embedded in other processes of divergence, like allopatric isolation. The cruciferous plant Barbarea vulgaris ssp. arcuata occurs in Denmark in two types: one (G) is resistant to most genotypes of the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum, the other (P) is susceptible. The two types additionally differ in hairiness and glucosinolates, they are genetically strongly divergent, and reproduction between them is reduced. To determine whether the two plant types and their resistance polymorphisms are also present outside Denmark, and to understand how they have evolved, we analysed 33 European populations of B. vulgaris for resistance, hairiness, glucosinolates, and microsatellite markers. Most populations had traits indicative of the G type, including the already characterized Danish G populations. In contrast, only two populations outside Denmark were of the P type; one from northern Sweden and one from Estonia. Genetically, the G populations formed two genetic clusters that were strongly divergent from a genetic cluster containing P populations. A fourth genetic cluster, which contained only a single population and no Danish plants, belonged morphologically to the subspecies ssp. vulgaris. The divergence found in Denmark between a resistant G and a susceptible P type is thus part of a larger divergence in Europe. Judging from the trait correlations, genetic divergence, and partial reproductive incompatibility, the plant types must have been isolated from each other for quite some time. The two P populations outside Denmark came from the north and east, suggesting a more eastern distribution. If so, resistant and susceptible types could have diverged during the ice age and later met in Scandinavia. However, more samples from Eastern Europe are needed to clarify this.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Genetic and geographic structure of an insect resistant and a susceptible type of Barbarea vulgaris in western Europe

2011

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“…oleifera is not accepted as host plant, and neither is the major crop Brassica napus (oilseed rape) (Nielsen 1977 and unpublished results). Amongst the results of earlier and ongoing studies (De Jong and Nielsen 1999, 2002Nielsen and De Jong 2005), one in particular has prompted us to initiate the work reported in this paper: the use of defended Barbarea as food by the resistant flea beetles clearly involved physiological costs. When the resistant flea beetle larvae used defended Barbarea as food, they developed slower than on other plants, including S. arvensis (Nielsen 1999).…”

Section: Case Study In Denmarkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both genotypes occur naturally in the field, where approximately 75% of the known Danish populations are of the chemically defended genotype (called the 'G-type', with glabrous leaves), 20% are of the genotype that is not chemically defended ('P-type', with pubescent leaves), and approximately 5% are hybrids between these, or unclassifiable (J. K. Nielsen, unpublished data). Of the flea beetles, also different genotypes have been found: susceptible and resistant to the defences of B. vulgaris, which can not, and can, respectively, use the defended genotype of this plant (henceforth indicated by the shorthand 'Barbarea') as food (de Jong and Nielsen 1999; Fig. 1 Schematic diagram illustrating the discrepancy between actual parasitism at any one moment and overall parasitism across the whole season.…”

Section: Case Study In Denmarkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of refuge from enemies through phenological mismatching in multitrophic interactions requires season-wide estimation of host abundance

Kerstes

Jong

2010

Evol Ecol

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The concept of ''enemy-free space'' (EFS) refers to ways of living that reduce or eliminate the vulnerability of a species to natural enemies. It has been invoked to explain host shifts of phytophagous insects. A demonstrated cause of EFS is escape from enemies in time, through phenological mismatching of herbivore development and enemy occurrence, leading to low percentages of predation/parasitism of herbivores occurring at a certain time. The mere measurement of percentage parasitism, however, is not sufficient to demonstrate EFS in certain cases. Here we present such a case, where parasitism was studied of a phytophagous insect (Phyllotreta nemorum), using two different host plant species in the field: an atypical, relatively rarely used, plant (Barbarea vulgaris), and a more widely used one (Sinapis arvensis). At one location we found a paradoxical result: on each separate sampling day throughout the season the percentage of parasitism of P. nemorum using a patch of B. vulgaris was not significantly different from, or even significantly higher than on a nearby patch of S. arvensis. The overall season-wide proportion parasitism of the flea beetle cohort using the B. vulgaris patch, however, was lower. We conclude that, in the year and at the location we studied, the patch of B. vulgaris provided enemy-free space to the herbivore in the form of a temporal refuge, and that the importance of enemy-free space in the use of an atypical host plant should be evaluated on the basis of season-wide sampling, including estimation of host population size.

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“…These leaves were placed in plastic vials (500 ml) containing a layer of moist vermiculite. Fully grown larvae dug themselves into the vermiculite, where they pupated (further details on rearing techniques in De Jong and Nielsen 1999).…”

Section: Flea Beetles and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These phenotypes were evaluated against a genetic background that was unlikely to harbor modifier alleles that would ameliorate possible fitness costs associated with the presence of the R-allele (De Jong and Nielsen 2002). To obtain an appropriate experimental design to compare the different phenotypes we first needed to generate two different flea beetle lines: a fully heterozygous (Rr) line containing a single autosomal dominant R-allele originating from Kvaerkeby (so-called Kv-line, details can be found in De Jong and Nielsen 1999;, and a line without an R-allele (rr) originating from the Taastrup population (ST-line, so abbreviated for historical reasons Nielsen 1997a, b;. The Kv-line was started and maintained by crossing virgin resistant Rr males with virgin susceptible rr females from the ST-line (i.e., backcrossing).…”

Section: Flea Beetles and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pleiotropic effects associated with an allele enabling the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum to use Barbarea vulgaris as a host plant

et al. 2006

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In the Danish region of Kvaerkeby, a mutation in an, as yet, unknown single autosomal gene has resulted in a dominant resistance (R-) allele in the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticinae). It enables the beetle to overcome the defences of Barbarea vulgaris ssp. arcuata (Opiz.) Simkovics G-type (Brassicaceae) and use it as a host plant. In this study, we investigated the pleiotropic effects associated with the presence of this particular R-allele in female P. nemorum. These females had the R-allele backcrossed into the genetic background of non-resistant beetles. The effects were investigated under both favourable and stressful conditions (cold shock). The presence of the R-allele in a non-resistant genetic background caused a very high mortality in resistant individuals during the early stages of development under both conditions, but it did not affect the adult life-history traits longevity, body size and fecundity, under both conditions. Regardless of temperature treatment, resistant females in general were found to lay significantly more eggs. Developmental stability, as measured by tibia length fluctuating asymmetry, was not correlated with overall developmental stress in this study.

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Polymorphism in a flea beetle for the ability to use an atypical host plant

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

Genetic and geographic structure of an insect resistant and a susceptible type of Barbarea vulgaris in western Europe

Genetic and geographic structure of an insect resistant and a susceptible type of Barbarea vulgaris in western Europe

Detection of refuge from enemies through phenological mismatching in multitrophic interactions requires season-wide estimation of host abundance

Pleiotropic effects associated with an allele enabling the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum to use Barbarea vulgaris as a host plant

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