title: Sex ratio of mirid populations shifts in response to hostplant co-infestation or altered cytokinin signaling .
abstract: Herbivore species sharing a host plant often compete. In this study, we show that host plant-mediated interaction between two insect herbivores - a generalist and a specialist - results in a sex ratio shift of the specialist's offspring. We studied demographic parameters of the specialist Tupiocoris notatus (Hemiptera: Miridae) when co-infesting the host plant Nicotiana attenuata (Solanaceae) with the generalist leafhopper Empoasca sp. (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). We show that the usually female-biased sex ratio of T. notatus shifts toward a higher male proportion in the offspring on plants co-infested by Empoasca sp. This sex ratio change did not occur after oviposition, nor is it due differential mortality of female and male nymphs. Based on pyrosequencing and PCR of bacterial 16S rRNA amplicons, we concluded that sex ratio shifts were unlikely to be due to infection with Wolbachia or other known sex ratio-distorting endosymbionts. Finally, we used transgenic lines of N. attenuata to evaluate if the sex ratio shift could be mediated by changes in general or specialized host plant metabolites. We found that the sex ratio shift occurred on plants deficient in two cytokinin receptors (irCHK2/3). Thus, cytokinin-regulated traits can alter the offspring sex ratio of the specialist T. notatus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Erler
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kallenbach
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Research Group Insect Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaltenpoth
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Grit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kunert
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Ian T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Meredith C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Schuman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003583:Cytokinins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008297:Male; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D010058:Oviposition; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012098:Reproduction; D012744:Sex Ratio; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013559:Symbiosis; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000469:parasitology*; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003583:Cytokinins
keywords: 17-hydroxygeranyllinalool diterpene glycosides (HGL-DTGs); Empoasca sp. ; Nicotiana attenuata; RuBPCase activase; Tupiocoris notatus; Wolbachia; cytokinin; interspecific competition; jasmonic acid; sex ratio