DOI: 10.5061/dryad.606j8
title: Data from: Adaptation of a polyphagous herbivore to a novel host plant extensively shapes the transcriptome of herbivore and host

description: Generalist arthropod herbivores rapidly adapt to a broad range of host
 plants. However, the extent of transcriptional reprogramming in the
 herbivore and its hosts associated with adaptation remains poorly
 understood. Using the spider mite Tetranychus urticae and tomato as models
 with available genomic resources, we investigated the reciprocal
 genomewide transcriptional changes in both spider mite and tomato as a
 consequence of mite's adaptation to tomato. We transferred a
 genetically diverse mite population from bean to tomato where triplicated
 populations were allowed to propagate for 30 generations. Evolving
 populations greatly increased their reproductive performance on tomato
 relative to their progenitors when reared under identical conditions,
 indicative of genetic adaptation. Analysis of transcriptional changes
 associated with mite adaptation to tomato revealed two main components.
 First, adaptation resulted in a set of mite genes that were constitutively
 downregulated, independently of the host. These genes were mostly of an
 unknown function. Second, adapted mites mounted an altered transcriptional
 response that had greater amplitude of changes when re-exposed to tomato,
 relative to nonadapted mites. This gene set was enriched in genes encoding
 detoxifying enzymes and xenobiotic transporters. Besides the direct
 effects on mite gene expression, adaptation also indirectly affected the
 tomato transcriptional responses, which were attenuated upon feeding of
 adapted mites, relative to the induced responses by nonadapted mite
 feeding. Thus, constitutive downregulation and increased transcriptional
 plasticity of genes in a herbivore may play a central role in adaptation
 to host plants, leading to both a higher detoxification potential and
 reduced production of plant defence compounds.
description: Spider mite performance
 on different host plants, before and after tomato
 adaptation.Performance was
 quantified as the total population sizes (including eggs and mobile
 stages) 10 days after the initial inoculation using 35 female mites. The
 T. urticae London mite strain and the following plant cultivars were used;
 bean: Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv ‘Prelude’, cucumber: Cucumis sativus L. cv
 ‘Tanja’, tomato: Solanum lycopersicum L. cv ‘Moneymaker’ and bell pepper:
 Capsicum annuum L. cv ‘California Wonder’.T-urticae_performance_host-plants.txtTomato foliar damage by spider mite feedingFoliar damage was measured using chlorotic spots as described in Kant et al. (2004).T-urticae_tomato_leaf_damage.txtDifferentially expressed genes of T. urticae in the experimental evolutionary set-upDifferent DEG lists, arising from different transcriptomic comparisons, are shown in different tabs of the excel file. The abbreviations are explained in Table 1 of the main text.T-urticae_differential_gene-expression.xlsxDifferentially expressed genes of tomato in the experimental evolutionary set-upThe abbreviations are explained in Table 1 of the main text.Tomato_differential_gene-expression.xlsAnnotations of T. urticae genesBLAST2GO- and best-BLAST-hit-annotations are included. T. urticae gene IDs can be accessed at http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/orcae/overview/Teturmite_annotation-descriptions.txtAnnotations of tomato genesITAG, Blast2GO and EC descriptions for tomato genes are included.tomato_annotation-descriptions.txt