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A keeper of many crypts: a behaviour-manipulating parasite attacks a taxonomically diverse array of oak gall wasp species.

ABSTRACT: Parasites of animals and plants can encounter trade-offs between their specificity to any single host and their fitness on alternative hosts. For parasites that manipulate their host's behaviour, the added complexity of that manipulation may further limit the parasite's host range. However, this is rarely tested. The recently described crypt-keeper wasp, Euderus set, changes the behaviour of the gall wasp Bassettia pallida such that B. pallida chews a significantly smaller exit hole in the side of its larval chamber and 'plugs' that hole with its head before dying. Euderus set benefits from this head plug, as it facilitates the escape of the parasitoid from the crypt after it completes development. Here, we find direct and indirect evidence that E. set attacks and manipulates the behaviour of at least six additional gall wasp species, and that these hosts are taxonomically diverse. Interestingly, each of E. set's hosts has converged upon similarities in their extended phenotypes: the galls they induce on oaks share characters that may make them vulnerable to attack by E. set. The specialization required to behaviourally manipulate hosts may be less important in determining the range of hosts in this parasitoid system than other dimensions of the host-parasitoid interaction, like the host's physical defences.

SUBMITTER: Ward AKG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6769138 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A keeper of many crypts: a behaviour-manipulating parasite attacks a taxonomically diverse array of oak gall wasp species.

Ward Anna K G AKG Khodor Omar S OS Egan Scott P SP Weinersmith Kelly L KL Forbes Andrew A AA

Biology letters 20190925 9

Parasites of animals and plants can encounter trade-offs between their specificity to any single host and their fitness on alternative hosts. For parasites that manipulate their host's behaviour, the added complexity of that manipulation may further limit the parasite's host range. However, this is rarely tested. The recently described crypt-keeper wasp, Euderus set, changes the behaviour of the gall wasp Bassettia pallida such that B. pallida chews a significantly smaller e ...[more]

PMID: 31551066

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Project description:Galls are plant tissues whose development is induced by another organism for the inducer's benefit. 30,000 arthropod species induce galls, and in most cases the inducing effectors and target plant systems are unknown. Cynipid gall wasps are a speciose monophyletic radiation that induce structurally complex galls on oaks and other plants. We used a model system comprising the gall wasp Biorhiza pallida and the oak Quercus robur to characterise inducer and host plant gene expression at defined stages through the development of galled and ungalled plant tissues, and tested alternative hypotheses for the origin and type of galling effectors and plant metabolic pathways involved. Oak gene expression patterns diverged markedly during development of galled and normal buds. Young galls showed elevated expression of oak genes similar to legume root nodule Nod factor-induced early nodulin (ENOD) genes and developmental parallels with oak buds. In contrast, mature galls showed substantially different patterns of gene expression to mature leaves. While most oak transcripts could be functionally annotated, many gall wasp transcripts of interest were novel. We found no evidence in the gall wasp for involvement of third-party symbionts in gall induction, for effector delivery using virus-like-particles, or for gallwasp expression of genes coding for plant hormones. Many differentially and highly expressed genes in young larvae encoded secretory peptides, which we hypothesise are effector proteins exported to plant tissues. Specifically, we propose that host arabinogalactan proteins and gall wasp chitinases interact in young galls to generate a somatic embryogenesis-like process in oak tissues surrounding the gall wasp larvae. Gall wasp larvae also expressed genes encoding multiple plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDEs). These have functional orthologues in other gall inducing cynipids but not in figitid parasitoid sister groups, suggesting that they may be evolutionary innovations associated with cynipid gall induction.

Dataset Information

A keeper of many crypts: a behaviour-manipulating parasite attacks a taxonomically diverse array of oak gall wasp species.

Publications

A keeper of many crypts: a behaviour-manipulating parasite attacks a taxonomically diverse array of oak gall wasp species.

Similar Datasets

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