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Genomic and chemical evidence for local adaptation in resistance to different herbivores in Datura stramonium
Author(s) -
DelaCruz Ivan M.,
Merilä Juha,
Valverde Pedro L.,
FloresOrtiz César M.,
NúñezFarfán Juan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.14097
Subject(s) - biology , herbivore , adaptation (eye) , datura stramonium , local adaptation , abiotic component , natural selection , resistance (ecology) , ecology , genetic variation , ecological genetics , selection (genetic algorithm) , population , evolutionary biology , botany , genetics , gene , neuroscience , demography , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science
Abstract Because most species are collections of genetically variable populations distributed to habitats differing in their abiotic/biotic environmental factors and community composition, the pattern and strength of natural selection imposed by species on each other's traits are also expected to be highly spatially variable. Here, we used genomic and quantitative genetic approaches to understand how spatially variable selection operates on the genetic basis of plant defenses to herbivores. To this end, an F 2 progeny was generated by crossing Datura stramonium (Solanaceae) parents from two populations differing in their level of chemical defense. This F 2 progeny was reciprocally transplanted into the parental plants’ habitats and by measuring the identity by descent (IBD) relationship of each F 2 plant to each parent, we were able to elucidate how spatially variable selection imposed by herbivores operated on the genetic background (IBD) of resistance to herbivory, promoting local adaptation. The results highlight that plants possessing the highest total alkaloid concentrations (sum of all alkaloid classes) were not the most well‐defended or fit. Instead, specific alkaloids and their linked loci/alleles were favored by selection imposed by different herbivores. This has led to population differentiation in plant defenses and thus, to local adaptation driven by plant‐herbivore interactions.