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Why Do Herbivorous Mites Suppress Plant Defenses?
C Joséphine H Blaazer1, Ernesto A Villacis-Perez1, Rachid Chafi1
1Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Frontiers in Plant Science
|August 15, 2018
Summary
Herbivorous mites, like spider mites (Tetranychus urticae), suppress plant defenses to thrive. This strategy aids colonization of new hosts but can attract predators, raising questions about its evolutionary advantage.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Entomology
Background:
- Plants possess defense mechanisms against herbivores, driving the evolution of herbivore counter-strategies.
- Some herbivorous mites, including spider mites (Tetranychus urticae and Tetranychus evansi), suppress inducible plant defenses to enhance performance.
- Defense suppression can have drawbacks, such as increasing host plant suitability for competitors and offspring attractiveness to natural enemies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary reasons behind the commonality of defense suppression traits in herbivorous mites.
- To explore how defense suppression may facilitate the colonization of new host plants by generalist herbivores.
- To understand the interplay between defense suppression, host-specific detoxification, and natural selection in mite populations.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of evolutionary pressures on herbivore defense strategies.
- Examination of existing empirical evidence on mite-plant interactions and defense mechanisms.
- Hypothesizing the role of conserved plant signaling components in defense suppression efficacy.
Main Results:
- Defense suppression may be a broadly effective strategy for generalist herbivores colonizing new hosts, unlike narrow-acting detoxification mechanisms.
- Frequency-dependent selection could maintain defense suppression as a polymorphism in generalist mite populations.
- Rapid selection for defense suppression may occur in recently colonized populations, potentially eroding in isolated populations with emerging detoxification traits.
Conclusions:
- Defense suppression, despite its costs, appears advantageous for generalist herbivores in colonizing new plant species.
- The prevalence of defense suppression suggests it targets conserved plant pathways, offering broad applicability.
- For specialized mites, buffering traits may mitigate the negative consequences of defense suppression, shielding it from strong selection.
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