EvoLunch Seminar: Henry North (University of Cambridge, UK)
EvoLunch Seminar
Bidirectional introgression of resistance genes between native and invasive pest species
"Bidirectional introgression of resistance genes between native and invasive pest species"
Wednesday 30th April 2025
11:00 CET
Mondi 2a, Central Building, ISTA
Hybrid Meeting (for zoom link, email evolunch.seminar@ist.ac.at)
Invasive species present significant threats to biodiversity and food security. Though regrettable, they also represent ecosystem-scale evolutionary experiments. Population-level genomic data are increasingly being used to study biological invasion to quantify rapid adaptation in 'real time', while simultaneously informing efforts to monitor and manage invasive pests. I will discuss a case study of noctuid moths of the genus Helicoverpa, which are among the most economically damaging crop pests globally. The invasive species Helicoverpa armigera was first officially reported in Brazil in 2013. There, it hybridized with its native sister species H. zea. We generated a 10-year time-series dataset spanning the course of the biological invasion. These data consist of over 1000 whole genome sequences from Helicoverpa samples collected at 10 locations throughout Brazil. Although interspecific hybridization was rare due to pre- and post-zygotic reproductive barriers, occasional hybridization was sufficient to result in substantial interspecific gene flow. Through adaptive introgression, synthetic pesticide resistance alleles were introduced to native H. zea from invasive H. armigera. This allele has subsequently spread into the native North American population of H. zea. More recently, alleles conferring resistance to Bt crops were introduced to invasive H. armigera from native H. zea. Despite the stability of species boundaries in sympatry, this exchange of fitness-enhancing alleles resulted in rapid adaptation over remarkably short time scales.
https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-henry-north