Lineage-specific targets of positive selection in three leaf beetles correspond with defence capacity against their shared parasitoid wasp.

ABSTRACT: Parasitoid wasps are major causes of mortality of many species, making host immune defences a common target of adaptive evolution, though such targets outside model species are poorly understood. In this study, we used two tests of positive selection to compare across three closely related Galerucella leaf beetles that show substantial differences in their phenotypic response to the shared parasitoid wasp Asecodes parviclava, their main natural enemy. Using a codon-based test, which detects excess amino acid fixations per locus along each species' lineage, we found more evidence of positive selection on parasitoid-relevant immune genes in the species with the strongest immunocompetence (G. pusilla) compared with the species having weaker immunocompetence (G. tenella and G. calmariensis). M

SUBMITTER: Yang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12457636 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature