Maintaining genetic diversity and population panmixia through dispersal and not gene flow in a holocyclic heteroecious aphid species.

ABSTRACT: Heteroecious holocyclic aphids exhibit both sexual and asexual reproduction and alternate among primary and secondary hosts. Most of these aphids can feed on several related hosts, and invasions to new habitats may limit the number of suitable hosts. For example, the aphid specialist Aphis glycines survives only on the primary host buckthorn (Rhamnus spp.) and the secondary host soybean (Glycine max) in North America where it is invasive. Owing to this specialization and sparse primary host distribution, host colonization events could be localized and involve founder effects, impacting genetic diversity, population structure and adaptation. We characterized changes in the genetic diversity and structure across time among A. glycines populations. Populations were sampled from secondary host

SUBMITTER: Orantes LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3400749 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature