Merijn R. Kant

University of Amsterdam

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Juan M. Alba

University of Amsterdam

Robert C. Schuurink

University of Amsterdam

Thomas Van Leeuwen

Ghent University

Wannes Dermauw

Ghent University

Bernardus C. J. Schimmel

University of Bern

Nicky Wybouw

Ghent University

Joris J. Glas

Rijk Zwaan (Netherlands)

Bartel Vanholme

Ghent University

Sander De Rouck

Ghent University

Maurice W. Sabelis

University of Amsterdam

Cooperative Institutions

University of Amsterdam

Wageningen University & Research

Ghent University

Institute for Biodiversity

Ghent University Hospital

Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

Amsterdam University of the Arts

Universidade Federal de Viçosa

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

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Additional file 12 of Intradiol ring cleavage dioxygenases from herbivorous spider mites as a new detoxification enzyme family in animals

Figshare (2022)

Christine Njiru Wenxin Xue Sander De Rouck Juan M. Alba Merijn R. Kant

Additional file 12: Table S7. Calibrated normalized relative quantity (CNRQ) data used to determine the relative expression of TuDOG1, TuDOG8 and TuDOG16 genes in spider mites strains interacting differently with the Jasmonic acid defense.

Detoxification

Cleavage (geology)

10.6084/m9.figshare.20003784

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Citations (0)

Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of tomato induced defense responses affects spider mite performance and behavior

Plant Signaling & Behavior (2017)

Bernardus C. J. Schimmel Lívia M. S. Ataíde Merijn R. Kant

When feeding from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), the generalist spider mite Tetranychus urticae induces jasmonate (JA)- and salicylate (SA)-regulated defense responses that hamper its performance. The related T. evansi, a Solanaceae-specialist, suppresses these defenses, thereby upholding a high performance. On a shared leaf, T. urticae can be facilitated by T. evansi, likely via suppression of defenses by the latter. Yet, when infesting the same plant, T. evansi outcompetes T. urticae. Recently, we found that T. evansi intensifies suppression of defenses locally, i.e., at its feeding site, after T. urticae mites were introduced onto adjacent leaf tissue. This hyper-suppression is paralleled by an increased oviposition rate of T. evansi, probably promoting its competitive population growth. Here we present additional data that not only provide insight into the spatiotemporal dynamics of defense induction and suppression by mites, but that also suggest T. evansi to manipulate more than JA and SA defenses alone.

Jasmonate

10.1080/15592324.2017.1370526

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Citations (18)

Correction to: Phytophagy of omnivorous predator Macrolophus pygmaeus affects performance of herbivores through induced plant defences

Oecologia (2017)

Nina Xiaoning Zhang G.J. Messelink Juan M. Alba Robert C. Schuurink Merijn R. Kant

Unfortunately, the citation of one of the papers was published erroneously in the original version and corrected here by this Erratum. The original article was corrected.

Omnivore

10.1007/s00442-017-4015-0

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Citations (0)

Defense suppression benefits herbivores that have a monopoly on their feeding site but can backfire within natural communities

Figshare (2014)

Merijn R. Kant

Raw data including popution densities, mite fecundity, plant gene expression, phytohormone and bacterial growth data. November 2014.

10.6084/m9.figshare.1232104

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Genome streamlining in a minute herbivore that manipulates its host plant

eLife (2020)

Robert Greenhalgh Wannes Dermauw Joris J. Glas Stéphane Rombauts Nicky Wybouw

The tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici, is among the smallest animals on earth. It is a worldwide pest on tomato and can potently suppress the host’s natural resistance. We sequenced its genome, the first of an eriophyoid, and explored whether there are genomic features associated with the mite’s minute size and lifestyle. At only 32.5 Mb, the genome is the smallest yet reported for any arthropod and, reminiscent of microbial eukaryotes, exceptionally streamlined. It has few transposable elements, tiny intergenic regions, and is remarkably intron-poor, as more than 80% of coding genes are intronless. Furthermore, in accordance with ecological specialization theory, this defense-suppressing herbivore has extremely reduced environmental response gene families such as those involved in chemoreception and detoxification. Other losses associate with this species’ highly derived body plan. Our findings accelerate the understanding of evolutionary forces underpinning metazoan life at the limits of small physical and genome size.

Genome size

Arthropod

10.7554/elife.56689

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Citations (43)

Plant Glandular Trichomes as Targets for Breeding or Engineering of Resistance to Herbivores

International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2012)

Joris J. Glas Bernardus C. J. Schimmel Juan M. Alba Rocío Escobar‐Bravo Robert C. Schuurink

Glandular trichomes are specialized hairs found on the surface of about 30% of all vascular plants and are responsible for a significant portion of a plant’s secondary chemistry. Glandular trichomes are an important source of essential oils, i.e., natural fragrances or products that can be used by the pharmaceutical industry, although many of these substances have evolved to provide the plant with protection against herbivores and pathogens. The storage compartment of glandular trichomes usually is located on the tip of the hair and is part of the glandular cell, or cells, which are metabolically active. Trichomes and their exudates can be harvested relatively easily, and this has permitted a detailed study of their metabolites, as well as the genes and proteins responsible for them. This knowledge now assists classical breeding programs, as well as targeted genetic engineering, aimed to optimize trichome density and physiology to facilitate customization of essential oil production or to tune biocide activity to enhance crop protection. We will provide an overview of the metabolic diversity found within plant glandular trichomes, with the emphasis on those of the Solanaceae, and of the tools available to manipulate their activities for enhancing the plant’s resistance to pests.

Trichome

10.3390/ijms131217077

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Citations (502)

Intraspecific variation for host immune activation by the spider mite Tetranychus evansi

Royal Society Open Science (2023)

Jéssica Teodoro‐Paulo Juan M. Alba Steven Charlesworth Merijn R. Kant Sara Magalhães

Many parasites can interfere with their host's defences to maximize their fitness. Here, we investigated if there is heritable variation in the spider mite Tetranychus evansi for traits associated with how they interact with their host plant. We also determined if this variation correlates with mite fecundity. Tetranychus evansi can interfere with jasmonate (JA) defences which are the main determinant of anti-herbivore immunity in plants. We investigated (i) variation in fecundity in the presence and absence of JA defences, making use of a wild-type tomato cultivar and a JA-deficient mutant (defenseless-1), and (ii) variation in the induction of JA defences, in four T. evansi field populations and 59 inbred lines created from an outbred population originating from controlled crosses of the four field populations. We observed a strong positive genetic correlation between fecundity in the presence (on wild-type) and the absence of JA defences (on defenseless-1). However, fecundity did not correlate with the magnitude of induced JA defences in wild-type plants. Our results suggest that the performance of the specialist T. evansi is not related to their ability to manipulate plant defences, either because all lines can adequately reduce levels of defences, or because they are resistant to them.

10.1098/rsos.230525

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Citations (4)

Food decisions of an omnivorous thrips are independent from the indirect effects of jasmonate-inducible plant defences on prey quality

Scientific Reports (2019)

Lívia M. S. Ataíde Cleide Rosa Dias Bernardus C. J. Schimmel Thijs van Erp Ângelo Pallini

Plant defensive substances can affect the quality of herbivores as prey for predators either directly or indirectly. Directly when the prey has become toxic since it ingested toxic plant material and indirectly when these defences have affected the size and/or nutritional value (both quality parameters) of prey or their abundance. To disentangle direct and indirect effects of JA-defences on prey quality for predators, we used larvae of the omnivorous thrips Frankliniella occidentalis because these are not directly affected by the jasmonate-(JA)-regulated defences of tomato. We offered these thrips larvae the eggs of spider mites (Tetranychus urticae or T. evansi) that had been feeding from either normal tomato plants, JA-impaired plants, or plants treated with JA to artificially boost defences and assessed their performance. Thrips development and survival was reduced on the diet of T. evansi eggs relative to the diet of T. urticae eggs yet these effects were independent from the absence/presence of JA-defences. This indicates that the detrimental effects of tomato JA-defences on herbivores not necessarily also affects their quality as prey.

Omnivore

Western flower thrips

Jasmonate

10.1038/s41598-018-38463-w

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Citations (5)

Tetranychusevansi spider mite populations suppress tomato defenses to varying degrees

Ecology and Evolution (2020)

Bram Knegt Tomas Meijer Merijn R. Kant E. Toby Kiers Martijn Egas

Plant defense suppression is an offensive strategy of herbivores, in which they manipulate plant physiological processes to increase their performance. Paradoxically, defense suppression does not always benefit the defense-suppressing herbivores, because lowered plant defenses can also enhance the performance of competing herbivores and can expose herbivores to increased predation. Suppression of plant defense may therefore entail considerable ecological costs depending on the presence of competitors and natural enemies in a community. Hence, we hypothesize that the optimal magnitude of suppression differs among locations. To investigate this, we studied defense suppression across populations of Tetranychus evansi spider mites, a herbivore from South America that is an invasive pest of solanaceous plants including cultivated tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, in other parts of the world. We measured the level of expression of defense marker genes in tomato plants after infestation with mites from eleven different T. evansi populations. These populations were chosen across a range of native (South American) and non-native (other continents) environments and from different host plant species. We found significant variation at three out of four defense marker genes, demonstrating that T. evansi populations suppress jasmonic acid- and salicylic acid-dependent plant signaling pathways to varying degrees. While we found no indication that this variation in defense suppression was explained by differences in host plant species, invasive populations tended to suppress plant defense to a smaller extent than native populations. This may reflect either the genetic lineage of T. evansi-as all invasive populations we studied belong to one linage and both native populations to another-or the absence of specialized natural enemies in invasive T. evansi populations.

Jasmonic acid

10.1002/ece3.6204

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Citations (15)

Rising temperatures favour defence-suppressing herbivores

Journal of Pest Science (2024)

Jéssica Teodoro‐Paulo Jacques A. Deere João Valeriano-Santos Steven Charlesworth Alison B. Duncan

Abstract Rising temperatures due to climate change are predicted to accelerate the life cycle of arthropod herbivores thereby exacerbating pest formation. Notorious pests like spider mites thrive in areas with high temperatures (32–35 °C), and it is predicted that the size and number of such areas will expand in the coming decades. Higher temperatures can directly accelerate population growth, but also indirectly affect them through changes in the plant's defensive mechanisms. Spider mites have been shown to adapt to plant defences, with natural selection favouring defence-suppressing traits. However, it is not known to what extent suppression is affected by rising temperatures and how this might tie into the rate of adaptation and pest damage. In this study, we investigated the effect of two temperatures (25 °C and 32 °C), on the spider mite–tomato interaction, predicting the influence of rising temperatures on favouring defence-adapted mites. We found that all mite strains caused more plant damage at 32 °C, but temperature did not affect the overall patterns of induction and suppression of defence genes. Although fecundity was higher for all strains at 32 °C, juvenile and adult survival was lower, especially for inducer mites. With these data, we parametrized population models for the two strains over three months, indicating that suppressor mites might displace inducers at the higher temperature, either when it is constant or in the form of heat waves. Our models predict that in areas with higher temperatures, defence-suppressing mites are favoured, which will accelerate and consequently spur pest formation.

Arthropod

10.1007/s10340-024-01781-2

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Citations (4)