Abstract
In the Danish region of Kværkeby, 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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Acknowledgements
We thank J.K. Nielsen for providing beetles, and both him and E. van der Meijden for useful comments and advice at an early stage of the research. Furthermore, we would like to thank M. Gibbs, C.P. Klingenberg, S.B.J. Menken, C.W. Fox and two anonymous reviewers for most useful comments on the manuscript, M. Dicke for making it possible to do part of the research at the University of Wageningen in The Netherlands, and K. Koops, H. Nel, and N. Wurzer for their technical support. The work was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research, on a NWO Grant (810.34.007).
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Breuker, C.J., de Jong, P.W., Victoir, K. et al. Pleiotropic effects associated with an allele enabling the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum to use Barbarea vulgaris as a host plant. Evol Ecol 21, 13–26 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-006-9121-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-006-9121-0