Plant domestication slows pest evolution

Authored by Martin M Turcotte, Amaneet K Lochab, Nash E Turley, Marc T J Johnson

Date Published: 2015

DOI: 10.1111/ele.12467

Sponsors: National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canadian Foundation for Innovation Ontario Research Fund University of Toronto

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Agricultural practices such as breeding resistant varieties and pesticide use can cause rapid evolution of pest species, but it remains unknown how plant domestication itself impacts pest contemporary evolution. Using experimental evolution on a comparative phylogenetic scale, we compared the evolutionary dynamics of a globally important economic pest - the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) - growing on 34 plant taxa, represented by 17 crop species and their wild relatives. Domestication slowed aphid evolution by 13.5\%, maintained 10.4\% greater aphid genotypic diversity and 5.6\% higher genotypic richness. The direction of evolution (i.e. which genotypes increased in frequency) differed among independent domestication events but was correlated with specific plant traits. Individual-based simulation models suggested that domestication affects aphid evolution directly by reducing the strength of selection and indirectly by increasing aphid density and thus weakening genetic drift. Our results suggest that phenotypic changes during domestication can alter pest evolutionary dynamics.

Tags

Coevolution patterns Population-dynamics Impact Resistance Rapid evolution Natural enemies General-purpose genotypes Aphid myzus-persicae Crop domestication