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Feeding performance on a novel host: no adaptation over generations and differential patterns in two flea species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2020

Irina S. Khokhlova ,
Laura J. Fielden ,
Elizabeth M. Warburton Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth M. Warburton [Opens in a new window] ,
Luther van der Mescht  and
Boris R. Krasnov Open the ORCID record for Boris R. Krasnov [Opens in a new window]
Irina S. Khokhlova
Affiliation:
Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
Laura J. Fielden
Affiliation:
Biology Department, School of Science and Mathematics, Truman State University, 100E. Normal Avenue, Kirksville, MO63501, USA
Elizabeth M. Warburton
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
Luther van der Mescht
Affiliation:
Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
Boris R. Krasnov*
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
*
Author for correspondence: Boris R. Krasnov, E-mail: krasnov@bgu.ac.il
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Abstract

To model the colonization of a novel host by fleas, Synosternus cleopatrae and Xenopsylla ramesis, we established experimental lines maintained for 15 generations on a principal or a novel host (either co-occurring with a flea or not). We compared the blood meal size and the energy expended for digestion by fleas from the 15th generation of each line on these hosts between hosts within a line and between lines within a host asking (a) whether fleas adapt to a novel host (increased blood consumption/decreased energy expended for digestion); (b) if yes, whether this adaptation leads to the loss of ability to exploit an original host, and (c) whether the success of adaptation to a novel host depends on its ecological co-occurrence with a flea. The blood consumption and digestion energetics of fleas fed on the principal host differed from those on other hosts. The effect of the principal host on feeding performance differed between fleas, with S. cleopatrae consuming less blood and expending more energy for digestion on the principal than on any other host, whereas the opposite was true for X. ramesis. No changes in feeding performance on a novel host over generations were found. We propose several explanations for the lack of adaptation to a novel host over time. We explain the poor performance of S. cleopatrae on its principal host via its immune response mounting pattern. We argue that the principal host of a parasite is not necessarily the host on which the parasite demonstrates the best performance.

Keywords

Adaptationblood meal sizedigestionenergy expenditurefleas
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 147 , Issue 6 , May 2020 , pp. 721 - 728
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Present address: Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, 203 D.W. Brooks Dr, Athens, GA 30602, USA

†

Present address: Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa

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