Dataset Information

Gene flow in the green mirid, Creontiades dilutus (Hemiptera: Miridae), across arid and agricultural environments with different host plant species.

ABSTRACT: Creontiades dilutus (Stål), the green mirid, is a polyphagous herbivorous insect endemic to Australia. Although common in the arid interior of Australia and found on several native host plants that are spatially and temporally ephemeral, green mirids also reach pest levels on several crops in eastern Australia. These host-associated dynamics, distributed across a large geographic area, raise questions as to whether (1) seasonal fluctuations in population size result in genetic bottlenecks and drift, (2) arid and agricultural populations are genetically isolated, and (3) the use of different host plants results in genetic differentiation. We sequenced a mitochondrial COI fragment from individuals collected over 24 years and screened microsatellite variation from 32 populations across two seasons. The predominance of a single COI haplotype and negative Tajima D in samples from 2006/2007 fit with a population expansion model. In the older collections (1983 and 1993), a different haplotype is most prevalent, consistent with successive population contractions and expansions. Microsatellite data indicates recent migration between inland sites and coastal crops and admixture in several populations. Altogether, the data suggest that long-distance dispersal occurs between arid and agricultural regions, and this, together with fluctuations in population size, leads to temporally dynamic patterns of genetic differentiation. Host-associated differentiation is evident between mirids sampled from plants in the genus Cullen (Fabaceae), the primary host, and alternative host plant species growing nearby in arid regions. Our results highlight the importance of jointly assessing natural and agricultural environments in understanding the ecology of pest insects.

SUBMITTER: Hereward JP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3631396 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gene flow in the green mirid, Creontiades dilutus (Hemiptera: Miridae), across arid and agricultural environments with different host plant species.

Hereward J P JP Walter G H GH Debarro P J PJ Lowe A J AJ Riginos C C

Ecology and evolution 20130225 4

Creontiades dilutus (Stål), the green mirid, is a polyphagous herbivorous insect endemic to Australia. Although common in the arid interior of Australia and found on several native host plants that are spatially and temporally ephemeral, green mirids also reach pest levels on several crops in eastern Australia. These host-associated dynamics, distributed across a large geographic area, raise questions as to whether (1) seasonal fluctuations in population size result in genetic bottlenecks and dr ...[more]

PMID: 23610626

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Project description:The family Miridae is one of the most species-rich families of insects. To better understand the diversity and evolution of mirids, we determined the mitogenome of Lygus pratenszs and re-sequenced the mitogenomes of four mirids (i.e., Apolygus lucorum, Adelphocoris suturalis, Ade. fasciaticollis and Ade. lineolatus). We performed a comparative analysis for 15 mitogenomic sequences representing 11 species of five genera within Miridae and evaluated the potential of these mitochondrial genes as molecular markers. Our results showed that the general mitogenomic features (gene content, gene arrangement, base composition and codon usage) were well conserved among these mirids. Four protein-coding genes (PCGs) (cox1, cox3, nad1 and nad3) had no length variability, where nad5 showed the largest size variation; no intraspecific length variation was found in PCGs. Two PCGs (nad4 and nad5) showed relatively high substitution rates at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, where cox1 had the lowest substitution rate. The Ka/Ks values for all PCGs were far lower than 1 (<0.59), but the Ka/Ks values of cox1-barcode sequences were always larger than 1 (1.34 -15.20), indicating that the 658 bp sequences of cox1 may be not the appropriate marker due to positive selection or selection relaxation. Phylogenetic analyses based on two concatenated mitogenomic datasets consistently supported the relationship of Nesidiocoris + (Trigonotylus + (Adelphocoris + (Apolygus + Lygus))), as revealed by nad4, nad5, rrnL and the combined 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), respectively. Taken sequence length, substitution rate and phylogenetic signal together, the individual genes (nad4, nad5 and rrnL) and the combined 22 tRNAs could been used as potential molecular markers for Miridae at various taxonomic levels. Our results suggest that it is essential to evaluate and select suitable markers for different taxa groups when performing phylogenetic, population genetic and species identification studies.

Dataset Information

Gene flow in the green mirid, Creontiades dilutus (Hemiptera: Miridae), across arid and agricultural environments with different host plant species.

Publications

Gene flow in the green mirid, Creontiades dilutus (Hemiptera: Miridae), across arid and agricultural environments with different host plant species.

Similar Datasets

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