TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dennis, Alice B.
A1  - Patel, Vilas
A1  - Oliver, Kerry M.
A1  - Vorburger, Christoph
T1  - Parasitoid gene expression changes after adaptation to symbiont-protected hosts
JF  - Evolution
N2  - Reciprocal selection between aphids, their protective endosymbionts, and the parasitoid wasps that prey upon them offers an opportunity to study the basis of their coevolution. We investigated adaptation to symbiont‐conferred defense by rearing the parasitoid wasp Lysiphlebus fabarum on aphids (Aphis fabae) possessing different defensive symbiont strains (Hamiltonella defensa). After ten generations of experimental evolution, wasps showed increased abilities to parasitize aphids possessing the H. defensa strain they evolved with, but not aphids possessing the other strain. We show that the two symbiont strains encode different toxins, potentially creating different targets for counter‐adaptation. Phenotypic and behavioral comparisons suggest that neither life‐history traits nor oviposition behavior differed among evolved parasitoid lineages. In contrast, comparative transcriptomics of adult female wasps identified a suite of differentially expressed genes among lineages, even when reared in a common, symbiont‐free, aphid host. In concurrence with the specificity of each parasitoid lineages’ infectivity, most differentially expressed parasitoid transcripts were also lineage‐specific. These transcripts are enriched with putative venom toxins and contain highly expressed, potentially defensive viral particles. Together, these results suggest that wild populations of L. fabarum employ a complicated offensive arsenal with sufficient genetic variation for wasps to adapt rapidly and specifically to their hosts’ microbial defenses.
KW  - Adaptation
KW  - experimental evolution
KW  - gene expression
KW  - Lysiphlebus fabarum
KW  - parasitoid
KW  - venom
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13333
SN  - 0014-3820
SN  - 1558-5646
VL  - 71
SP  - 2599
EP  - 2617
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -