Abstract
Aphids feature complex life cycles, which in the case of many agriculturally important species involve primary and secondary host plant species. Whilst host alternation between primary and secondary host can occur in the field depending on host availability and the environment, aphid populations maintained as laboratory stocks generally are kept under conditions that allow asexual reproduction by parthenogenesis on secondary hosts. We used Myzus cerasi (black cherry aphid) to assess aphid transcriptional differences between populations collected from primary hosts in the field and those adapted to secondary hosts under controlled environment conditions. Transfer of M. cerasi collected from local cherry trees to reported secondary host species resulted in low survival rates. Moreover, aphids were unable to survive on the secondary host land cress, unless first adapted to another secondary host, cleavers. Transcriptome analyses of the different aphid populations (field collected and adapted) revealed extensive transcriptional plasticity to a change in environment, with predominantly genes involved in redox reactions differentially regulated. Most of the differentially expressed genes were duplicated and we found evidence for differential exon usage. Our data suggest that aphid adaptation to different environments may pose a major hurdle and leads to extensive gene expression changes.
Highlights
Aphids are phloem-feeding insects that belong to the order Hemiptera
When attempting to establish a colony of M. cerasi from populations occurring on local cherry trees, we observed differences in survival rates upon transfer to reported secondary host plant species under controlled plant growth conditions
It should be noted that the M. cerasi populations on cherry predominantly consisted of apterous aphids of mixed-age, which were used for transfer experiments, whereas in the field the alate aphids would migrate to new plants, including secondary host species
Summary
Aphids are phloem-feeding insects that belong to the order Hemiptera. Insects within this order feature distinctive mouthparts, or stylets, that are used to pierce plant tissues and obtain nutrients from the plant phloem. To investigate M. cerasi transcriptional responses associated with adaptation to secondary host plants under a laboratory controlled environment, we made several attempts to establish populations on Barbarea verna (land cress) and Galium aparine (cleavers) using aphids collected from local primary hosts (cherry trees). We found that aphids collected from their primary host in the field differed in their ability to adapt to the secondary host plant species in a controlled environment, with no aphids surviving transfer to B. verna unless first adapted to G. aparine Based on this we hypothesized that the transfer to a new host plant and/or environment (termed here the ‘host environment’) poses a major hurdle and this is most likely reflected by significant changes in gene expression. The majority of differentially expressed genes were duplicated, implicating multigene families in aphid adaptation to host plants and/or environments
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