Dietary adaptations are fundamental drivers of evolutionary innovations. Still, the morphological and molecular mechanisms underlying these transitions remain poorly understood. True bugs (Heteroptera), one of the most diverse clades of hemimetabolous insects, have evolved a vast array of trophic niches. They exhibit remarkable structural and functional diversity in their salivary glands, providing an ideal system for investigating how dietary variation shapes evolutionary trajectories. Using morphometric, proteo-transcriptomic, and comparative phylogenetic approaches, we examined the evolutionary patterns of salivary glands across 220 hemipteran species, encompassing all seven infraorders and six dietary categories of Heteroptera. Our results reveal strong correlations between dietary shifts, salivary gland size and allometric scaling. Ancestral state estimation analysis demonstrates multiple evolutionary transitions in salivary gland morphology, highlighting structural adaptations associated with different diets. Furthermore, we found that distantly related species with similar diets share dominant salivary protein groups, implying convergent molecular solutions to shared feeding challenges. Notably, we identify venom protein family 2 as a key adaptation. This family originated through lineage-specific co-option of an ancestral protein into heteropteran salivary systems, followed by extensive expansion that facilitated dietary diversification. These findings provide novel insights into the morphological, physiological, and molecular adaptations of salivary glands, emphasizing the dynamic interplay between feeding ecology and macroevolution.
- Coordinated Evolution of Salivary Glands and Sialome in True Bugs: Dietary Adaptation and Venom Protein Co-option
- Xinyu Li - China Agricultural UniversityTianfang Wang - University of the Sunshine CoastFanding Gao - China Agricultural UniversityYuange Duan - China Agricultural UniversityLing Ma - China Agricultural UniversityZhuo Chen - China Agricultural UniversityZhiyao Wang - China Agricultural UniversityLi Tian - China Agricultural UniversityFan Song - China Agricultural UniversityTeiji Sota - Kyoto UniversityWanzhi Cai (Corresponding Author) - China Agricultural UniversityHu Li (Corresponding Author) - China Agricultural University
- Systematic Biology, Vol.Advanced access
- Oxford University Press
- 10.1093/sysbio/syag067
- 1076-836X
- 42611054
- The data sets, tree files and input files and results for this study are available on the Dryad Digital Repository https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2280gb65f. Raw sequencing of transcriptomes was submitted to NCBI’s Sequence Read Archive with the BioProject identifier PRJNA1063580.
- This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFC2607800 and 2024YFC2607804), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31730086 and 32100357), Pests and Diseases Green Prevention and Control Major Special Project (110202101046[LS-06]), Northeast Asia Biodiversity Research Center (2572022DS09), Expert Workstation in Zhaotong, Yunnan (2021ZTYX05) and 2115 Talent Development Program of China Agricultural University.
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- English
- 991254246502621
- Journal article