A La Carte Seed Harvesting: Messor barbarus Ants Select Durum Wheat Genotypes

IF 2.3 2区生物学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Ecology and Evolution Pub Date : 2025-10-03 DOI:10.1002/ece3.72251

Clément Plessis, Aline Rocher, Frédéric Compan, Jonathan Romiguier, Jacques David, Hélène Fréville

{"title":"A La Carte Seed Harvesting: Messor barbarus Ants Select Durum Wheat Genotypes","authors":"Clément Plessis, Aline Rocher, Frédéric Compan, Jonathan Romiguier, Jacques David, Hélène Fréville","doi":"10.1002/ece3.72251","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Biotic interactions between plants and insects can drive key evolutionary processes. In Mediterranean agroecosystems, the harvester ants Messor barbarus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) frequently collect seeds, including those of cultivated cereals. Yet their potential role in shaping crop traits remains poorly understood. This study investigates whether harvester ant seed predation is driven by genetic and phenotypic variation in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum), a major Mediterranean crop derived from wild emmer (T. turgidum ssp. dicoccoides). Using a panel of 180 genetically diverse durum wheat inbred lines grown in a field experiment, we visually recorded spike predation and performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using SNP markers to assess the genetic architecture of susceptibility to seed predation by M. barbarus. We identified a significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosome 2A explaining 21% of the variation in predation rate. This region contains a 3.6 Mb chromosomal inversion and 46 candidate genes, including a MYB transcription factor potentially involved in regulating cuticle and chemical traits. To validate these genetic findings, we conducted a cafeteria experiment with 208 spikes from 26 genotypes, placed at the entrances of eight ant nests. Ants preferentially removed spikes from genotypes carrying the allele identified in the GWAS. Additionally, shorter spikes were more likely to be harvested. However, unlike previous studies on wild plants, seed morphology and protein content did not significantly affect ant preference. Synthesis. Our results demonstrate that M. barbarus exhibits genotype-specific preferences in durum wheat, associated with a major QTL, and is influenced by spike traits. This study provides the first evidence of ant-mediated selective pressure in a cereal crop and opens new perspectives on plant–insect dynamics in agroecosystems and the role of plant–insect interactions in the evolutionary history of crop species.","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":"15 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.72251","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecology and Evolution","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72251","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Biotic interactions between plants and insects can drive key evolutionary processes. In Mediterranean agroecosystems, the harvester ants Messor barbarus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) frequently collect seeds, including those of cultivated cereals. Yet their potential role in shaping crop traits remains poorly understood. This study investigates whether harvester ant seed predation is driven by genetic and phenotypic variation in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum), a major Mediterranean crop derived from wild emmer (T. turgidum ssp. dicoccoides). Using a panel of 180 genetically diverse durum wheat inbred lines grown in a field experiment, we visually recorded spike predation and performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using SNP markers to assess the genetic architecture of susceptibility to seed predation by M. barbarus. We identified a significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosome 2A explaining 21% of the variation in predation rate. This region contains a 3.6 Mb chromosomal inversion and 46 candidate genes, including a MYB transcription factor potentially involved in regulating cuticle and chemical traits. To validate these genetic findings, we conducted a cafeteria experiment with 208 spikes from 26 genotypes, placed at the entrances of eight ant nests. Ants preferentially removed spikes from genotypes carrying the allele identified in the GWAS. Additionally, shorter spikes were more likely to be harvested. However, unlike previous studies on wild plants, seed morphology and protein content did not significantly affect ant preference. Synthesis. Our results demonstrate that M. barbarus exhibits genotype-specific preferences in durum wheat, associated with a major QTL, and is influenced by spike traits. This study provides the first evidence of ant-mediated selective pressure in a cereal crop and opens new perspectives on plant–insect dynamics in agroecosystems and the role of plant–insect interactions in the evolutionary history of crop species.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

单点种子收割：野蛮蚂蚁选择硬粒小麦基因型

植物和昆虫之间的生物相互作用可以驱动关键的进化过程。在地中海农业生态系统中，收获蚁Messor barbarus（膜翅目：蚁科）经常收集种子，包括栽培谷物的种子。然而，它们在塑造作物性状方面的潜在作用仍然知之甚少。本研究探讨了收割蚁的种子捕食是否受硬粒小麦（Triticum turgidum ssp）遗传和表型变异的驱动。一种主要的地中海作物，源自野生二粒海苔（T. turgidum ssp.）。dicoccoides)。研究人员利用180个大田试验的硬粒小麦自交系，直观记录了小麦穗捕食行为，并利用SNP标记进行了全基因组关联研究（GWAS），以评估小麦对种子捕食易感性的遗传结构。我们在2A染色体上发现了一个重要的数量性状位点（QTL），解释了21%的捕食率变异。该区域包含3.6 Mb的染色体反转和46个候选基因，包括一个MYB转录因子，可能参与调节角质层和化学性状。为了验证这些遗传发现，我们在自助餐厅进行了一项实验，将26种基因型的208个穗状物放置在8个蚂蚁巢穴的入口处。蚂蚁优先从携带GWAS中鉴定的等位基因的基因型中去除尖刺。此外，较短的穗更有可能收获。然而，与以往对野生植物的研究不同，种子形态和蛋白质含量对蚂蚁偏好的影响并不显著。合成。我们的研究结果表明，黑僵菌在硬粒小麦中表现出基因型特异性偏好，与一个主要QTL相关，并受穗性状的影响。该研究首次提供了昆虫在谷类作物中介导的选择压力的证据，并为研究农业生态系统中的植物-昆虫动力学以及植物-昆虫相互作用在作物物种进化史中的作用开辟了新的视角。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Ecology and Evolution ECOLOGY-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

3.80%

发文量

1027

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

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.