Symbiont infection and psyllid haplotype influence phenotypic plasticity during host switching events

Many herbivorous insect species exhibit phenotypic plasticity when using multiple hosts, which facilitates survival in heterogeneous host environments. Physiological host acclimation is an important part of it, yet the effects of host acclimation on insect feeding behavior are not well studied, particularly for insect vectors of plant pathogens. We studied the combined effects of host acclimation and infection with a plant pathogenic symbiont on feeding behavior of Bactericera cockerelli, an oligophagous psyllid widespread in both crop and natural habitats that feeds primarily on Solanaceae and transmits an economically important plant pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso). We used a factorial design and the electrical penetration graphing technique to disentangle the effects of host acclimation, CLso infection, and psyllid haplotype on the within-plant feeding behavior of B. cockerelli during conspecific and heterospecific host switches. This approach allows to connect ..., Plants were taken from the greenhouse and placed in two Faraday cages hosted on opposite benches in the same room, one with a Giga-8 DC-EPG amplifier and the other one with a Giga-4 DC-EPG amplifier (EPG Systems, Wageningen, The Netherlands). The plastic saucers beneath the pots were filled with water to ensure soil electrical conductivity during recordings. We randomly selected a leaf and gently turned it upside down to expose the abaxial surface, then secured it to a small piece of Styrofoam using a glass slide laid across the surface and affixed by a rubber band (if necessary, thin wooden sticks were also used to position this arrangement for easy leaf access). We collected fourth instar nymphs from select colonies in the morning before setting up EPG recordings. To simulate stress associated with foraging for a new host, nymphs were allowed to sit without plant access for 4 hours in a 10x1.5 cm petri dish (Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) sealed with parafilm. After this peri..., , # Data from: Symbiont infection and psyllid haplotype influence phenotypic plasticity during host switching events

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vpp](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vpp)

This dataset includes raw electropenetrography (EPG) recordings used to disentangle the effects of host acclimation, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso) infection, and psyllid haplotype on the within-plant feeding behavior of Bactericera cockerelli during conspecific and heterospecific host switches. This approach allows to connect phenotypic plasticity with the role of B. cockerelli as a vector by quantifying the frequency and duration of behaviors involved in CLso transmission.

## Description of the data and file structure

The EPG recordings have the following naming scheme:
Folder \"Central_Lso+_mt_yp\" refers to EPG recordings of psyllids of the Central haplotype_infected by CLso_reared on MicroTom tomato_trasferred to Yellow Pear tomato.
The same naming scheme applies to indivi...