An experimental test of whether the defensive phenotype of an aphid facultative symbiont can respond to selection within a host lineage

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 14;9(11):e111601. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111601. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test whether parasitoid resistance within a single clonal line of pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) might increase after exposure to the parasitoid wasp Aphidius ervi. Any change in resistance was expected to occur through an increase in the density of protective symbiotic bacteria rather than genetic change within the aphid or the bacterial symbiont. Six aphid lineages were exposed to high parasitoid attack rates over nine generations, each line being propagated from individuals that had survived attack; a further six lineages were maintained without parasitoids as a control. At the end of the experiment the strength of resistance of aphids from treatment and control lines were compared. No differences in resistance were found.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aphids / parasitology*
  • Female
  • Host-Parasite Interactions / physiology*
  • Phenotype
  • Phylogeny*
  • Symbiosis / physiology*
  • Wasps / physiology*

Grants and funding

This study was partially funded by a UK Natural Environment Research Council (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/) grant NE/G017638/1 to HCJG. AHCM was funded by the University of Oxford. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.