RT Journal Article
T1 Unveiling biogeographical patterns in the worldwide distributed "Ceratitis capitata" (medfly) using population genomics and microbiome composition
A1 Arias, María Belén
A1 Hartle‐Mougiou, Katherine
A1 Taboada Moreno, Sergio
A1 Vogler, Alfried P.
A1 Riesgo, Ana
A1 Elfekih, Samia
AB Invasive species are among the most important, growing threats to food security and agricultural systems. The Mediterranean medfly, Ceratitis capitata, is one of the most damaging representatives of a group of rapidly expanding species in the family Tephritidae, due to their wide host range and high invasiveness potential. Here, we used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to investigate the population genomic structure and phylogeographical history of medflies collected from six sampling sites, including Africa (South Africa), the Mediterranean (Spain, Greece), Latin America (Guatemala, Brazil) and Australia. A total of 1907 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to identify two genetic clusters separating native and introduced ranges, consistent with previous findings. In the introduced range, all individuals were assigned to one genetic cluster except for those in Brazil, which showed introgression of an additional genetic cluster that also appeared in South Africa, and which could not be previously identified using microsatellite markers. Moreover, we assessed the microbial composition variations in medfly populations from selected sampling sites using amplicon sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (V4 region). Microbiome composition and structure were highly similar across geographical regions and host plants, and only the Brazilian specimens showed increased diversity levels and a unique composition of its microbiome compared to other sampling sites. The unique SNP patterns and microbiome features in the Brazilian specimens could point to a direct migration route from Africa with subsequent adaptation of the microbiota to the specific conditions present in Brazil. These findings significantly improve our understanding of the evolutionary history of the global medfly invasions and their adaptation to newly colonized environments.
PB John Wiley & Sons
SN 0962-1083
YR 2022
FD 2022-08-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125387
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125387
LA eng
NO Arias, M. B., Hartle-Mougiou, K., Taboada, S., Vogler, A. P., Riesgo, A., & Elfekih, S. (2022). Unveiling biogeographical patterns in the worldwide distributed Ceratitis capitata (medfly) using population genomics and microbiome composition. Molecular Ecology, 31(18), 4866-4883. https://doi.org/10.1111/MEC.16616
NO M.B.A. was supported by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), fellowship programme Doctorado en el extranjero/2014 and Postdoctorado en el extranjero/2019 – 74200143. S.E. was supported by an EMBO grant (ASTF-42-2010) and a CSIRO Julius Career Award (R- 91040-11). S.T. received funding from the grant PID2020-117115GA-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103.
NO Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (Chile)
NO European Molecular Biology Organisation
NO CSIRO (Australia)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 dic 2025