Maja Fluch, Marta Chignola, Erika Corretto, Manfred Wolf, Stefanie Fischnaller, Luigimaria Borruso, Hannes Schuler
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The relationship between phytophagous insects and plants is a central aspect of food webs and ecosystem functioning. The introduction of new species into an environment can have significant impacts on the food web of a native ecosystem. In many cases, there is a lack of knowledge on the biology and feeding behavior of invasive species prior their introduction and in the invaded regions. Gut content analyses of insects have provided valuable information on the host spectrum of insects. However, current approaches are time-consuming and costly. Here, we describe a new molecular gut content analysis (GCA) approach using the Oxford Nanopore (ONT) Flongle sequencing platform to characterize the plant DNA present in the gut of the highly polyphagous insect species Halyomorpha halys. We demonstrate that this technique efficiently amplifies and correctly identifies plant DNA in a mock community. We performed a feeding experiment to determine the sensitivity of this approach and to assess how long the plant DNA can be detected. All plants used in the feeding experiment were correctly identified and detected after 56 days. Surprisingly, we also detected various plant genera that were not included in the feeding experiment and thus were likely ingested months before the experiment. Our study suggests that the GCA using the ONT Flongle sequencing platform represents a rapid and cost-efficient diagnosis of the dietary preferences, host range, and the diversity of consumed plant species of pest insects with high precision.
期刊介绍:
Ecology and Evolution is the peer reviewed journal for rapid dissemination of research in all areas of ecology, evolution and conservation science. The journal gives priority to quality research reports, theoretical or empirical, that develop our understanding of organisms and their diversity, interactions between them, and the natural environment.
Ecology and Evolution gives prompt and equal consideration to papers reporting theoretical, experimental, applied and descriptive work in terrestrial and aquatic environments. The journal will consider submissions across taxa in areas including but not limited to micro and macro ecological and evolutionary processes, characteristics of and interactions between individuals, populations, communities and the environment, physiological responses to environmental change, population genetics and phylogenetics, relatedness and kin selection, life histories, systematics and taxonomy, conservation genetics, extinction, speciation, adaption, behaviour, biodiversity, species abundance, macroecology, population and ecosystem dynamics, and conservation policy.