title: Linking genomics and ecology to investigate the complex evolution of an invasive Drosophila pest.
abstract: Drosophilid fruit flies have provided science with striking cases of behavioral adaptation and genetic innovation. A recent example is the invasive pest Drosophila suzukii, which, unlike most other Drosophila, lays eggs and feeds on undamaged, ripening fruits. This not only poses a serious threat for fruit cultivation but also offers an interesting model to study evolution of behavioral innovation. We developed genome and transcriptome resources for D. suzukii. Coupling analyses of these data with field observations, we propose a hypothesis of the origin of its peculiar ecology. Using nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenetic analyses, we confirm its Asian origin and reveal a surprising sister relationship between the eugracilis and the melanogaster subgroups. Although the D. suzukii genome is comparable in size and repeat content to other Drosophila species, it has the lowest nucleotide substitution rate among the species analyzed in this study. This finding is compatible with the overwintering diapause of D. suzukii, which results in a reduced number of generations per year compared with its sister species. Genome-scale relaxed clock analyses support a late Miocene origin of D. suzukii, concomitant with paleogeological and climatic conditions that suggest an adaptation to temperate montane forests, a hypothesis confirmed by field trapping. We propose a causal link between the ecological adaptations of D. suzukii in its native habitat and its invasive success in Europe and North America.
authors.affiliation: Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy.
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ometto
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cestaro
authors.forename: Sukanya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramasamy
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Revadi
authors.forename: Stefanos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siozios
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moretto
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Varotto
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pisani
authors.forename: Teun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wrobel
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Viola
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pertot
authors.forename: Duccio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cavalieri
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blaxter
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Anfora
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rota-Stabelli
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000469:parasitology; D004330:Drosophila / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D059646:Genome Size; D049750:Genome, Insect; D023281:Genomics; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins