Data from: Experimental evolution of parasitoid infectivity on symbiont-protected hosts leads to the emergence of genotype-specificity

Host-parasitoid interactions may lead to strong reciprocal selection for traits involved in host defense and parasitoid counter-defense. In aphids, individuals harboring the facultative bacterial endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa exhibit enhanced resistance to parasitoid wasps. We used an experimental evolution approach to investigate the ability of the parasitoid wasp Lysiphlebus fabarum to adapt to the presence of H. defensa in its aphid host Aphis fabae. Sexual populations of the parasitoid were exposed for eleven generations to a single clone of A. fabae, either free of H. defensa or harboring artificial infections with three different isolates of H. defensa. Parasitoids adapted rapidly to the presence of H. defensa in their hosts, but this adaptation was in part specific to the symbiont isolate they were evolving against and did not result in an improved infectivity on all symbiont-protected hosts. Comparisons of life history traits among the evolved lines of parasitoids did not reveal any evidence for costs of adaptation to H. defensa in terms of correlated responses that could constrain such adaptation. These results show that parasitoids readily evolve counter-adaptations to heritable defensive symbionts of their hosts, but that different symbiont strains impose different evolutionary challenges. The symbionts thus mediate the host-parasite interaction by inducing line-by-line genetic specificity.infectivity_gen0The table "infectivity_gen0" corresponds to the infectivity test at the beginning of experimental evolution procedure.infectivity_gen5The table "infectivity_gen5" corresponds to the infectivity test after five generations of experimental evolution.infectivity_gen11The table "infectivity_gen11" corresponds to the infectivity test after eleven generations of experimental evolution.infectivity_mixed_linesThe table "infectivity_mixed_lines" corresponds to the infectivity test after the mixing of the experimental lines a the end of the experimental evolution procedure.traits_evolution_linesThe table "traits_evolution_lines" corresponds to the life-history traits (sex, mass, tibia length, development time) measured in the evolution lines.eggs_evolution_linesThe table "eggs_evolution_lines" corresponds to the average egg size measured in the evolution lines.traits_mixed_evolution_linesThe table "traits_mixed_evolution_lines" corresponds to the life-history traits (sex, mass, tibia length, development time) measured in the evolution treatment after mixing the evolution lines.reduced_infectivity_mixedThe table "reduced_infectivity_mixed" corresponds to the infectivity on the H. defensa-free clone A407 of the parasitoids from the different evolution treatment after the mixing of the evolution lines