How to better predict long-term benefits and risks in weed biocontrol: an evolutionary perspective

Müller‐Schärer, Heinz; Bouchemousse, Sarah; Litto, Maria; McEvoy, Peter B.; Roderick, George K.; Sun, Yu-Shan

doi:10.1016/j.cois.2020.02.006

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Using this approach, Barghi et al (2019) recently combined a laboratory selection experiment to detect selection signatures with phenotyping in a common environment and showed that Drosophila simulans populations harbour a vast evolutionary potential for future temperature adaptation. So far, experimental evolution studies have rarely been done in natural settings (Müller-Schärer et al, 2020;Schlötterer et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid genomic and phenotypic change in response to climate warming in a widespread plant invader

Sun

Bossdorf

Grados

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Predicting plant distributions under climate change is constrained by our limited understanding of potential rapid adaptive evolution. In an experimental evolution study with the invasive common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) we subjected replicated populations of the same initial genetic composition to simulated climate warming. Pooled DNA sequencing of parental and offspring populations showed that warming populations experienced greater genetic divergence from their parents, than control populations. In a common environment, offspring from warming populations showed more convergent phenotypes in seven out of nine plant traits, with later flowering and larger biomass, than plants from control populations. For both traits, we also found a significantly higher ratio of phenotypic to genetic differentiation across generations for warming than for control populations, indicating stronger response to selection under warming conditions. As a measure for evolutionary rate, the phenotypic and sequence divergence between generations were assessed using the Haldane metric. Our approach combining comparisons between generations (allochronic) and between treatments (synchronic) in an experimental evolutionary field study, and linking population genomic data with phenotyping analyses provided a powerful test to detect rapid responses to selection. Our findings demonstrate that ragweed populations can rapidly evolve in response to climate change within a single generation. Short-term evolutionary responses to climate change may aggravate the impact of some plant invaders in the future and should be considered when making predictions about future distributions and impacts of plant invaders.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid genomic and phenotypic change in response to climate warming in a widespread plant invader

Sun

Bossdorf

Grados

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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“…2012 ; Szűcs et al. 2019 ; Müller-Schärer et al. 2020 ), nor in predictions of future occurrences under climate change using species distribution models ( Sun et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome Assembly of the Ragweed Leaf Beetle: A Step Forward to Better Predict Rapid Evolution of a Weed Biocontrol Agent to Environmental Novelties

Bouchemousse

Falquet

Müller‐Schärer

2020

Genome Biology and Evolution

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Rapid evolution of weed biological control agents (BCAs) to new biotic and abiotic conditions is poorly understood and so far, only little considered both in pre-release and post-release studies, despite potential major negative or positive implications for risks of non-targeted attacks or for colonizing yet unsuitable habitats, respectively. Provision of genetic resources, such as assembled and annotated genomes, is essential to assess potential adaptive processes by identifying underlying genetic mechanisms. Here, we provide the first sequenced genome of a phytophagous insect used as a BCA, i.e. the leaf beetle Ophraella communa, a promising BCA of common ragweed, recently and accidentally introduced into Europe. A total 33.98 Gb of raw DNA sequences, representing c. 43-fold coverage, were obtained using the PacBio SMRT-Cell sequencing approach. Among the five different assemblers tested, the SMARTdenovo assembly displaying the best scores was then corrected with Illumina short reads. A final genome of 774 Mb containing 7,003 scaffolds was obtained. The reliability of the final assembly was then assessed by benchmarking universal single-copy orthologous genes (> 96.0% of the 1,658 expected insect genes) and by remapping tests of Illumina short reads (average of 98.6% ± 0.7% without filtering). The number of protein-coding genes of 75,642, representing 82% of the published antennal transcriptome, and the phylogenetic analyses based on 825 orthologous genes placing O. communa in the monophyletic group of Chrysomelidae, confirm the relevance of our genome assembly. Overall, the genome provides a valuable resource for studying potential risks and benefits of this BCA facing environmental novelties.

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“…This result could be due to the shorter generation time of the antagonist as compared to its host plant, leading to a more virulent antagonist genotype (Kaltz et al 1999), or due to its oligophagous nature, which allows Ophraella to deal with a large diversity of plant defense chemicals (Ali and Agrawal 2012). The fact that the Ambrosia genotype only differed for total leaf area consumed by the larvae, but did not influence survival and developmental time, or the weight of the herbivore, may indicate that Ophraella can compensate for observed differences in secondary plant metabolites in Ambrosia (Fukano and Yahara 2012;Sun and Roderick 2019;Wan et al 2019) by adapting their feeding rate (Müller et al 2006). Significant Ambrosia-Ophraella G × G interactions were found only for two out of 13 variates measured, i.e., L2 survival and dry weight of adults.…”

Section: Ambrosia-ophraella Genotype Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plant-antagonist interactions are among the most studied evolutionary interactions (Gloss et al 2019;Ohgushi 2016). Genetic variation within a plant species has been shown to have a strong influence on the performance of the associated herbivores for survival, developmental time and herbivore dynamics, due to differences in secondary compounds and nutrients within-plant species (Beck et al 2014;Müller et al 2006;Underwood and Rausher 2000). Similarly, within-species genetic variability in insects is known to differ among distinct geographic populations (Carter et al 2009;Molfini et al 2018;Nishide et al 2015), which may result in different herbivore performance on their host plants (Goolsby et al 2006;Lommen et al 2017b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is biocontrol efficacy rather driven by the plant or the antagonist genotypes? A conceptual bioassay approach

Sun¹,

Beuchat²,

Müller‐Schärer³

2020

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In the new range, invasive species lack their specialist co-evolved natural enemies, which then might be used as biocontrol agents. Populations of both a plant invader in the introduced range and its potential biocontrol agents in the native range may be genetically differentiated among geographically distinct regions. This, in turn, is expected to affect the outcome of their interaction when brought together, and by this the efficacy of the control. It further raises the question, is the outcome of such interactions mainly driven by the genotype of the plant invader (some plant genotypes being more resistant/tolerant to most of the antagonist genotypes), or by the antagonist genotype (some antagonist genotypes being more effective against most of the plant genotypes)? This is important for biocontrol management, as only the latter is expected to result in more effective control, when introducing the right biocontrol agent genotypes. In a third scenario, where the outcome of the interaction is driven by a specific plant by antagonist genotype interactions, an effective control will need the introduction of carefully selected multiple antagonist genotypes. Here, we challenged in a complete factorial design 11 plant genotypes (mainly half-siblings) of the invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia with larvae of eight genotypes (full-siblings) of the leaf beetle Ophraella communa, a potential biocontrol insect, and assessed larval and adult performance and leaf consumption as proxies of their expected impact on the efficacy of biological control. Both species were collected from several locations from their native (USA) and introduced ranges (Europe and China). In summary, we found O. communa genotype to be the main driver of this interaction, indicating the potential for at least short-term control efficacy when introducing the best beetle genotypes. Besides the importance of investigating the genetic structure both among and within populations of the plant invader and the biocontrol agent during the pre-release phase of a biocontrol program, we advocate integrating such bioassays, as this will give a first indication of the probability for an – at least – short- to mid-term efficacy when introducing a potential biocontrol agent, and on where to find the most efficient agent genotypes.

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How to better predict long-term benefits and risks in weed biocontrol: an evolutionary perspective

Cited by 27 publications

References 48 publications

Rapid genomic and phenotypic change in response to climate warming in a widespread plant invader

Rapid genomic and phenotypic change in response to climate warming in a widespread plant invader

Genome Assembly of the Ragweed Leaf Beetle: A Step Forward to Better Predict Rapid Evolution of a Weed Biocontrol Agent to Environmental Novelties

Is biocontrol efficacy rather driven by the plant or the antagonist genotypes? A conceptual bioassay approach

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