Evolution of plant defenses during a plant invasion

生物入侵是一个日益严重的全球性问题，具有显著的生态和经济后果。为了管理当前的入侵者并防止未来的入侵，了解成功的生物入侵背后的过程至关重要。例如，我们知道，成功的入侵物种通常会迅速进化并适应它们新的环境，特别是变化的敌人压力。然而，从基因组到植物表型和生物相互作用的确切机制却鲜为人知。此外，对入侵物种的真正理解需要跨大陆的视角，以及对本地和引进范围内的生态和进化进行比较。在这里，我们提出了一个综合性的跨洲研究入侵植物日本结缕草(Reynoutria Japan Onica)，它在其引入的范围内经历了食草动物压力的剧烈变化。为了了解这次入侵的进化过程及其潜在机制，我们组建了一个由领先的入侵生物学家组成的德中团队，他们拥有互补的专业知识。我们的项目利用了一项正在进行的全球调查和分子分析，该调查对来自本土(中国/日本)和入侵(美国/欧洲)范围内的200个入侵节草种群进行了研究。我们将在这个项目的资源的基础上，在全球范围内研究草食和植物食草动物的抗性，以及这些变化如何与植物次生化学的潜在变异以及(表观)基因组和转录组变异有关。为了实现这一目标，我们将把野外观察与普通花园和实验方法相结合，并与代谢和基因组学方法相结合。我们的项目在地理规模和生物深度的结合上将是独一无二的，它将为世界上最严重的入侵物种之一提供重要的见解。我们希望它能成为成功跨洲合作的典范。

Biological invasions are an increasing global problem, with dramatic ecological and economic consequences. To manage current invaders and prevent future invasions it is critical to understand the processes underlying successful biological invasions. For instance, we know that successful invasive species often rapidly evolve and adapt to their novel environments, in particular to altered enemy pressures. The precise mechanisms, from genome to plant phenotypes and biotic interactions, are however rarely understood. Moreover, a true understanding of an invasive species requires a cross-continental perspective, and the comparison of its ecology and evolution in the native versus introduced range. Here, we propose an integrative and cross-continental study of the aggressive plant invader Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), which experiences drastic changes in herbivore pressure in its introduced range. To understand the evolutionary processes during this invasion, and its underlying mechanisms, we have assembled a German-Chinese team of leading invasion biologists with complementary expertises. Our project takes advantage of an ongoing global survey and molecular analysis of 200 invasive knotweed populations from across the native (China/Japan) and invasive (USA/Europe) range. We will build on the resources of this project and examine herbivory and plant herbivore resistance on a global scale, and how these are associated with underlying variation in plant secondary chemistry, as well as with (epi-)genomic and transcriptome variation. To achieve this, we will combine field observation with common-garden and experimental approaches, and with metabolomic and genomic methods. Our project will be unique in its combination of geographic scale and biological depth, and it will provide important insights about one of the world’s worst invasive species. We hope that it will become a model for successful cross-continental collaboration.