10.5061/DRYAD.3XSJ3TXBK
Martel, Sebastián
0000-0002-7469-6878
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Ossa, Carmen
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Simon, Jean-Christophe
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Figueroa, Chrisitian
University of Talca
Bozinovic, Francisco
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Latitudinal trend in the reproductive mode of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon
pisum invading a wide climatic range
Dryad
dataset
2019
Acyrthosiphon pisum
Sex
2021-07-15T00:00:00Z
2021-07-15T00:00:00Z
en
27461 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The maintenance of sexuality is a puzzling phenomenon in evolutionary
biology. Many universal hypotheses have been proposed to explain the
prevalence of sex despite its costs, but it has been hypothesized that sex
could be also retained by lineage-specific mechanisms that would confer
some short-term advantage. Aphids are good models to study the maintenance
of sex because they exhibit coexistence of both sexual and asexual
populations within the same species and because they invade a large
variety of ecosystems. Sex in aphids is thought to be maintained because
only sexually produced eggs can persist in cold climates but whether sex
is obligate or facultative depending on climatic conditions remains to be
elucidated. In this study, we have inferred the reproductive mode of
introduced populations of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum in Chile along
a climatic gradient using phenotypic assays and genetic-based criteria to
test the ecological short-term advantage of sex in cold environments. Our
results showed a latitudinal trend in the reproductive mode of Chilean pea
aphid populations from obligate parthenogenesis in the north to an
intermediate life-cycle producing both parthenogenetic and sexual progeny
in the southernmost subpopulation, where harsh winters are usual. These
findings are congruent with the hypothesis of the ecological short-term
advantage of sex in aphids.