DOCSLIB.ORG

The First Draft Genomes of the Ant Formica Exsecta, and Its Wolbachia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The First Draft Genomes of the Ant Formica Exsecta, and Its Wolbachia Dhaygude et al. BMC Genomics (2019) 20:301 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5665-6 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access The first draft genomes of the ant Formica exsecta, and its Wolbachia endosymbiont reveal extensive gene transfer from endosymbiont to host Kishor Dhaygude1* , Abhilash Nair1, Helena Johansson1, Yannick Wurm2 and Liselotte Sundström1,3 Abstract Background: Adapting to changes in the environment is the foundation of species survival, and is usually thought to be a gradual process. However, transposable elements (TEs), epigenetic modifications, and/or genetic material acquired from other organisms by means of horizontal gene transfer (HGTs), can also lead to novel adaptive traits. Social insects form dense societies, which attract and maintain extra- and intracellular accessory inhabitants, which may facilitate gene transfer between species. The wood ant Formica exsecta (Formicidae; Hymenoptera), is a common ant species throughout the Palearctic region. The species is a well-established model for studies of ecological characteristics and evolutionary conflict. Results: In this study, we sequenced and assembled draft genomes for F. exsecta and its endosymbiont Wolbachia. The F. exsecta draft genome is 277.7 Mb long; we identify 13,767 protein coding genes, for which we provide gene ontology and protein domain annotations. This is also the first report of a Wolbachia genome from ants, and provides insights into the phylogenetic position of this endosymbiont. We also identified multiple horizontal gene transfer events (HGTs) from Wolbachia to F. exsecta. Some of these HGTs have also occurred in parallel in multiple other insect genomes, highlighting the extent of HGTs in eukaryotes. Conclusion: We present the first draft genome of ant F. exsecta, and its endosymbiont Wolbachia (wFex), and show considerable rates of gene transfer from the symbiont to the host. We expect that especially the F. exsecta genome will be valuable resource in further exploration of the molecular basis of the evolution of social organization. Keywords: Formica exsecta, Genome, Endosymbionts, Transposons, Horizontal gene transfer, Wolbachia Background horizontal gene transfer (HGTs), and this can also lead to Adapting to changes in the environment is the foundation novel adaptive traits [4, 5]. Both mutations and HGTs can of species survival, and is usually thought to be a gradual drive rapid genome evolution [6, 7]. Horizontal gene trans- process. Genomic changes, such as single nucleotide sub- fers have been reported in many taxa, most commonly from stitutions play key roles in adaptive evolution, although bacteria to animals [7], plants [8, 9], fungi [10–12], but the few mutations are beneficial. Besides nucleotide substitu- mechanisms that underpin horizontal gene transfer events, tions, other structural and regulatory units, such as trans- and the mode by which bacterial genetic material is inte- posable elements (TEs) and epigenetic modifications, can grated into the eukaryote genome are not well understood. also act as drivers in adaptation [1–3]. Genetic material Many cases of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to can also be acquired from other organisms by means of eukaryotes involve intracellular endosymbionts, which are maternally transmitted through oocytes [13, 14]. The most * Correspondence: [email protected] common examples of endosymbiont to host horizontal 1 Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of gene transfers involve the bacterium Wolbachia, a well de- Biological and environmental sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland scribed intracellular, maternally inherited gram-negative Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Dhaygude et al. BMC Genomics (2019) 20:301 Page 2 of 16 bacterium known to infect over 60% of the investigated in- Results & discussion sect species [15–17]. Wolbachia infection is also prevalent The F. exsecta genome in filarial nematodes, crustaceans, and arachnids [18–20]. The Illumina sequencing libraries from DNA extracted from Wolbachia- host interactions can be mutualistic or patho- testes of males of a F. exsecta colony yielded > 99 gigabases genic [21]. A number of ecdysozoan genomes have been re- of Illumina sequence data. The final genome resulting from ported to contain chromosomal insertions originating from the assembly of these data was 277.7 megabases (Mb) long, Wolbachia, including the mosquito Aedes aegypti [22, 23], encompassing 14,617 scaffolds (Fig. 1)withaN50scaffold the longhorn beetle Monochamus alternatus [24], filarial length of 997.7 kb (Table 1). The number of scaffolds is nematodes of the genera Onchocerca, Brugia,andDirofilaria higher than the number of chromosomes (n =26)reported [20, 25], parasitoid wasps of the genus Nasonia,thefruitfly for F. exsecta [38, 39]. Similarly, the F. exsecta genome as- Drosophila ananassae, the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum sembly is somewhat shorter than genome size estimates ob- [26, 27], and the bean beetle Callosobruchus chinensis [28]. tained by flow cytometry for species in the subfamily Although most of the transferred DNA is probably nonfunc- Formicinae (range: 296–385 Mb) [40]. These discrepancies tional in the host genome [25, 28, 29], some of the trans- are unsurprising given the difficulty of assembling highly re- ferred genes are functional [22]. The functional HGT events petitive gene content from short sequencing reads [41]. In can be categorized into two broad types – one that maintains line with this, the genome assembly length metrics are simi- pre-existing functions in the recipient host, and one that pro- lar to those of the 23 ant genomes that have been published. vides the recipient host with new functionality, including al- The raw data, gapped scaffolds, and annotations underpin- tered host nutrition, protection and adaptation to extreme ning this assembly are deposited on public databases under environments [30]. BioProject PRJNA393850 (accession NPMM00000000). Infection with Wolbachia is widespread in Hymenop- tera. Most hymenopteran Wolbachia infections have the Quantitative assessment of genome assembly cytoplasmic incompatibility phenotype [31], which leads Based on scaffold N50 and N75 statistics, contig size, and to reproductive incompatibility between infected sperm GC content, the F. exsecta genome assembly is comparable and uninfected eggs. The ants that have been investi- in quality and completeness to other sequenced ant genomes gated so far are infected with A-group strains of (Additional file 1: Table S1). All the 248 CEGMA eukaryotic CI-inducing Wolbachia [32–34]. Wenseleers et al. [35] core genes were found, and 241 of these genes were showed that 25 out of 50 species of ants in Java and Su- complete in length. Similarly, 98.5% of 1634 BUSCO Insecta matra screened positive for a single A-group strain of genes were complete in the genome (Table 2). These results Wolbachia. By contrast, a study on a single Swiss popu- held with other BUSCO analysis levels including Eukaryota, lation of the ant Formica exsecta, found that all the ants Arthropoda, and Hymenoptera, with low duplication levels tested were infected with four or five different strains of (2.2 to 5.3%), and a few missing genes (0.6 to 1.27%; Table 2). Wolbachia [32, 36]. Such discrepancies can be due to technical artifacts such as The aims of this study are to produce the first genome sequencing biases or assembly difficulties, as well as to true for the ant genus Formica, to test whether horizontally differences between our F. exsecta sample and the BUSCO transferred genetic elements exist in the genome of the and CEGMA datasets. To further evaluate genome com- ant F. exsecta, and to describe the genomic organization pleteness, we compared the independently generated F. of any such elements. The genus Formica is listed by the exsecta transcriptome [42] to the genome reported here. Global Ant Genome Alliance (GAGA) as one of the More than 98.75% of the 10.999 assembled ESTs mapped high-priority ant taxons to be sequenced [37], owing to − unambiguously to the genome (BLASTn E < 10 50). To- its key taxonomic position, and the ecological and be- gether, these analyses show that the genome assembly has havioral data that are available for the species. We report high completeness. the first whole genome sequencing of this species, and the draft genome sequence of its associated cytoplasmic Wolbachia endosymbiont (wFex). We further report Gene content in the F. exsecta genome the presence of multiple extensive insertions of Wol- We identified 13,637 protein coding genes by com- bachia genetic material in the host genome, and com- bining ab initio, EST-based, and sequence similarity pare the HGTs insertions discovered in the assembled based gene predictions methods. The GC content draft genome to other genomes, to understand the was higher in exons (41.6%)
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Genomes of the Hymenoptera Michael G
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Repository @ Iowa State University Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications 2-2018 Genomes of the Hymenoptera Michael G. Branstetter U.S. Department of Agriculture Anna K. Childers U.S. Department of Agriculture Diana Cox-Foster U.S. Department of Agriculture Keith R. Hopper U.S. Department of Agriculture Karen M. Kapheim Utah State University See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/eeob_ag_pubs Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Entomology Commons, and the Genetics and Genomics Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ eeob_ag_pubs/269. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Genomes of the Hymenoptera Abstract Hymenoptera is the second-most sequenced arthropod order, with 52 publically archived genomes (71 with ants, reviewed elsewhere), however these genomes do not capture the breadth of this very diverse order (Figure 1, Table 1). These sequenced genomes represent only 15 of the 97 extant families. Although at least 55 other genomes are in progress in an additional 11 families (see Table 2), stinging wasps represent 35 (67%) of the available and 42 (76%) of the in progress genomes.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Enemies of True Fruit Flies 02/2004-01 PPQ Jeffrey N
    United States Department of Agriculture Natural Enemies of Marketing and Regulatory True Fruit Flies Programs Animal and Plant Health (Tephritidae) Inspection Service Plant Protection Jeffrey N. L. Stibick and Quarantine Psyttalia fletcheri (shown) is the only fruit fly parasitoid introduced into Hawaii capable of parasitizing the melon fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae) United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine 4700 River Road Riverdale, MD 20737 February, 2004 Telephone: (301) 734-4406 FAX: (301) 734-8192 e-mail: [email protected] Jeffrey N. L. Stibick Introduction Introduction Fruit flies in the family Tephritidae are high profile insects among commercial fruit and vegetable growers, marketing exporters, government regulatory agencies, and the scientific community. Locally, producers face huge losses without some management scheme to control fruit fly populations. At the national and international level, plant protection agencies strictly regulate the movement of potentially infested products. Consumers throughout the world demand high quality, blemish-free produce. Partly to satisfy these demands, the costs to local, state and national governments are quite high and increasing as world trade, and thus risk, increases. Thus, fruit flies impose a considerable resource tax on participants at every level, from producer to shipper to the importing state and, ultimately, to the consumer. (McPheron & Steck, 1996) Indeed, in the United States alone, the running costs per year to APHIS, Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), (the federal Agency responsible) for maintenance of trapping systems, laboratories, and identification are in excess of US$27 million per year and increasing. This figure only accounts for a fraction of total costs throughout the country, as State, County and local governments put in their share as well as the local industry affected.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of Gene Regulation Among Drosophila Species
    8th Annual ARTHROPOD GENOMICS SYMPOSIUM (AGS) ABSTRACTS | INVITED SPEAKERS EVOLUTION OF GENE REGULATION AMONG DROSOPHILA SPECIES Patricia Wittkopp, University of Michigan Genetic dissection of phenotypic differences within and between species has shown that genetic changes affecting the regulation of gene expression are an important source of phenotypic diversity. We have seen this in our own work investigating the genetic basis of pigmentation differences between closely related Drosophila species. To better understand the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolution of gene expression, we have been investigating the evolution of a specific gene yellow( ) as well as the evolution of gene expression on a genomic scale. Work on both of these topics, with an emphasis on methods adaptable to non-model systems, will be presented. METAMORPHOSIS AND EVOLUTION OF ARTHROPOD GENOMICS Judith H. Willis, University of Georgia I began work on arthropod genomics 50 years ago. At first, I was only interested in the genetic underpinnings of metamorphic transitions, but I have ended up with an increasing orientation toward arthropod evolution. During those 50 years the field itself has evolved (gaining a name in the process) and metamorphosed (witness this meeting). My talk will address both the biology and the history. I began by testing whether each metamorphic stage was underwritten by a unique set of genes by using cuticular proteins (CPs) as molecular markers. Results, starting with tube gels and progressing to the isolation and characterization of two CP genes and their promoters, demolished that hypothesis. A shift from a giant silkworm to Anopheles gambiae that devotes ~2% of its protein coding genes to structural CPs was accompanied by a larger scale analysis of their activity, including mRNA expression and recovery of authentic CPs from cuticle determined by LC-MS/MS analyses.
    [Show full text]
  • Sequential Divergence and the Multiplicative Origin of Community Diversity
    Sequential divergence and the multiplicative origin of community diversity Glen R. Hooda,1, Andrew A. Forbesb, Thomas H. Q. Powella,c, Scott P. Egana,d,e, Gabriela Hamerlinckb, James J. Smithf, and Jeffrey L. Federa,d aDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; bDepartment of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242; cDepartment of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611; dEnvironmental Change Initiative and Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; eDepartment of Biosciences, Anderson Biological Laboratories, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005; and fDepartment of Entomology and Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 Edited by Douglas Futuyma, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, and approved September 18, 2015 (received for review December 24, 2014) Phenotypic and genetic variation in one species can influence the Such “sequential” or “cascading” divergence events may be composition of interacting organisms within communities and across particularly relevant to understanding why some groups of or- ecosystems. As a result, the divergence of one species may not be an ganisms, like plants, the insects that feed on them, and the para- isolated process, as the origin of one taxon could create new niche sitoids that attack the insects, are more diverse and species-rich than – opportunities for other species to exploit, leading to the genesis of other groups (8, 9, 12 15). Specifically, when phytophagous insects many new taxa in a process termed “sequential divergence.” Here, diversify by adapting to new host plants, they create a new habitat we test for such a multiplicative effect of sequential divergence in a for their parasitoids to exploit (Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Large Scale Genome Reconstructions Illuminate Wolbachia Evolution
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19016-0 OPEN Large scale genome reconstructions illuminate Wolbachia evolution ✉ Matthias Scholz 1,2, Davide Albanese 1, Kieran Tuohy 1, Claudio Donati1, Nicola Segata 2 & ✉ Omar Rota-Stabelli 1,3 Wolbachia is an iconic example of a successful intracellular bacterium. Despite its importance as a manipulator of invertebrate biology, its evolutionary dynamics have been poorly studied 1234567890():,; from a genomic viewpoint. To expand the number of Wolbachia genomes, we screen over 30,000 publicly available shotgun DNA sequencing samples from 500 hosts. By assembling over 1000 Wolbachia genomes, we provide a substantial increase in host representation. Our phylogenies based on both core-genome and gene content provide a robust reference for future studies, support new strains in model organisms, and reveal recent horizontal transfers amongst distantly related hosts. We find various instances of gene function gains and losses in different super-groups and in cytoplasmic incompatibility inducing strains. Our Wolbachia- host co-phylogenies indicate that horizontal transmission is widespread at the host intras- pecific level and that there is no support for a general Wolbachia-mitochondrial synchronous divergence. 1 Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), San Michele all’Adige, Italy. 2 Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy. ✉ 3Present address: Centre Agriculture Food Environment (C3A), University of Trento, Trento, Italy. email: [email protected]; [email protected] NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2020) 11:5235 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19016-0 | www.nature.com/naturecommunications 1 ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19016-0 ature is filled with exemplar cases of symbiotic interaction based on genomic data have found no clear evidence of intras- between bacteria and multicellular eukaryotes.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Thresholds, Three Male Forms Result in Facultative Male Trimorphism in Beetles J
    Two Thresholds, Three Male Forms Result in Facultative Male Trimorphism in Beetles J. Mark Rowland, et al. Science 323, 773 (2009); DOI: 10.1126/science.1167345 The following resources related to this article are available online at www.sciencemag.org (this information is current as of February 18, 2009 ): Updated information and services, including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online version of this article at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/323/5915/773 Supporting Online Material can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/323/5915/773/DC1 This article cites 31 articles, 6 of which can be accessed for free: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/323/5915/773#otherarticles This article appears in the following subject collections: Evolution http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/evolution on February 18, 2009 Information about obtaining reprints of this article or about obtaining permission to reproduce this article in whole or in part can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/about/permissions.dtl www.sciencemag.org Downloaded from Science (print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published weekly, except the last week in December, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. Copyright 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; all rights reserved. The title Science is a registered trademark of AAAS. REPORTS Anomalocaris (11). Lift was also generated by A cladistic analysis (17)placesSchinder- 10. O. E. Sutcliffe, S. L. Tibbs, D. E. G. Briggs, Metalla the tail flukes.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 a Draft Genome Sequence of the Miniature Parasitoid Wasp, Megaphragma
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/579052; this version posted March 16, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 1 A draft genome sequence of the miniature parasitoid wasp, Megaphragma 2 amalphitanum 3 4 Artem V. Nedoluzhko1,2*, Fedor S. Sharko3, Brandon M. Lê4, Svetlana V. Tsygankova2, 5 Eugenia S. Boulygina2, Sergey M. Rastorguev2, Alexey S. Sokolov3, Fernando 6 Rodriguez4, Alexander M. Mazur3, Alexey A. Polilov5, Richard Benton6, Michael B. 7 Evgen'ev7, Irina R. Arkhipova4, Egor B. Prokhortchouk3,5*, Konstantin G. Skryabin2,3,5 8 *Correspondence: [email protected], [email protected] 9 10 1Nord University, Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Bodø, 8049, Norway. 11 2National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, 123182, Russia 12 3Institute of Bioengineering, Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian 13 Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117312, Russia 14 4Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine 15 Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 16 5Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology, Moscow, 119234, Russia 17 6Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, Génopode 18 Building, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland 19 7Institute of Molecular Biology RAS, Moscow, 119991, Russia 20 21 22 Full correspondence address: Dr. Artem V. Nedoluzhko, Nord University, Faculty of 23 Biosciences and Aquaculture, Universitetsalléen 11, 8049, Bodø, Norway. 24 Phone: +79166705595 25 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/579052; this version posted March 16, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder.
    [Show full text]
  • Genome Evolution in Parasitic Wasps: Comparisons of Sexual and Asexual Species
    University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Summer 2018 Genome evolution in parasitic wasps: comparisons of sexual and asexual species Eric S. Tvedte University of Iowa Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons Copyright © 2018 Eric S. Tvedte This dissertation is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6516 Recommended Citation Tvedte, Eric S.. "Genome evolution in parasitic wasps: comparisons of sexual and asexual species." PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.kgdbnt2x Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons GENOME EVOLUTION IN PARASITIC WASPS: COMPARISONS OF SEXUAL AND ASEXUAL SPECIES by Eric S. Tvedte A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa August 2018 Thesis Supervisors: Associate Professor John M. Logsdon, Jr. Associate Professor Andrew Forbes Copyright by Eric S. Tvedte 2018 All Rights Reserved Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ____________________________ PH.D. THESIS _________________ This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of Eric Tvedte has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology at the August 2018 graduation. Thesis Committee: ____________________________________________ John M. Logsdon, Jr., Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Andrew Forbes, Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Maurine Neiman ____________________________________________ Bryant McAllister ____________________________________________ Todd Scheetz ____________________________________________ Andrew Kitchen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisors, John Logsdon and Andrew Forbes for their immense contribution to my professional and personal growth.
    [Show full text]
  • Biological Control of Tephritid Fruit Flies in the Americas and Hawaii: a Review of the Use of Parasitoids and Predators
    insects Review Biological Control of Tephritid Fruit Flies in the Americas and Hawaii: A Review of the Use of Parasitoids and Predators Flávio R. M. Garcia 1,* ,Sérgio M. Ovruski 2 , Lorena Suárez 3 , Jorge Cancino 4 and Oscar E. Liburd 5 1 Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas 96010900, RS, Brazil 2 LIEMEN, División Control Biológico de Plagas, PROIMI Biotecnología, CCT NOA Sur-CONICET, Avda, Belgrano y Pje, Caseros, San Miguel de Tucumán T4001MVB, Tucumán, Argentina; [email protected] 3 Dirección de Sanidad Vegetal, Animal y Alimentos de San Juan, Av. Nazario Benavides 8000 Oeste, Rivadavia CP 5400, San Juan, Argentina; [email protected] 4 Programa Moscafrut SAGARPA-IICA, Camino a los Cacahoatales s/n, Metapa de Dominguez 30860, Chiapas, Mexico; [email protected] 5 Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, 1881 Natural Area Dr., Gainesville, FL 32611-0620, USA; oeliburd@ufl.edu * Correspondence: fl[email protected] Received: 31 August 2020; Accepted: 22 September 2020; Published: 25 September 2020 Simple Summary: Biological control has been the most commonly researched control tactic within fruit fly management programs, and parasitoids have been the main natural enemies used against pestiferous fruit fly species. In view of this fact, it is important to highlight and compile the data on parasitoids with a certain frequency, aiming to facilitate the knowledge of all the researchers. Information regarding the activities of parasitoids and predators on pestiferous fruit flies in the Americas is limited; therefore, this study aimed to compile the diversity of parasitoids and predators associated with tephritid fruit flies, as well as providing the scientific evidence about the use of parasitoids and predators as biological control agents for fruit flies im the Americas and Hawaii.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of the Hawaiian Braconidae (Hymenoptera)
    Vol. XVII, No. 3# August, 1961 333 A Review of the Hawaiian Braconidae (Hymenoptera) John W. Beardsley EXPERIMENT STATION HSPA HONOLULU, HAWAII {Submitted for publication December, I960) Introduction The Braconidae comprise a large and economically important family of hymenopterous parasites. The Hawaiian braconid fauna is composed almost entirely of exotic elements either accidentally or purposely imported into the islands. Compared with complex continental faunae the Hawaiian braconids are relatively easy to treat as, with the exception of a few genera (e.g. Optus, Apanteles, Bracon), our fauna consists of a scattering of relatively unrelated forms. Some of the species which have been imported as biological control agents have been of considerable benefit in combating economic pests such as fruit flies (Tephritidae), various lepidopterous larvae (armyworms, cutworms, etc.), and certain beetle larvae. At least two of our species must be classed as harmful. One, Blacus cremastobombycia Fullaway, is a parasite of a leaf-mining caterpillar imported to combat lantana; and the other, Perilitus coccinellae (Schrank), attacks certain coccinellid beetles which prey upon aphids. Others of our species may be beneficial in some circumstances and harmful in others, as are certain species of Optus which parasitize the larvae of harmful fruit-infesting species of tephritid flies as well as beneficial gall-forming species imported to combat weed pests such as Lantana and Eupatorium. The primary purposes of this paper are to provide a workable key to the known Hawaiian Braconidae, and to present current information on the accepted names for our species. Additional information has been included on the origin, island distribution, and known hosts of the species treated.
    [Show full text]
  • Behavioral Evidence for Host Fidelity Among Populations of the Parasitic Wasp, Diachasma Alloeum (Muesebeck)
    Naturwissenschaften (2005) 92:65–68 DOI 10.1007/s00114-004-0593-x SHORT COMMUNICATION L. L. Stelinski · O. E. Liburd Behavioral evidence for host fidelity among populations of the parasitic wasp, Diachasma alloeum (Muesebeck) Received: 16 August 2004 / Accepted: 10 November 2004 / Published online: 17 December 2004 Springer-Verlag 2004 Abstract The concept of “host fidelity,” where host- host races of D. alloeum tracking the speciation of their specific mating occurs in close proximity to the oviposi- larval Rhagoletis prey. tion site and location of larval development, is thought to impart a pre-mating isolation mechanism for sympatric speciation (sensu members of the genus Rhagoletis). The Introduction apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, and the blue- berry maggot fly, R. mendax, are morphologically similar Tephritid flies of the Rhagoletis pomonella sibling species sibling species thought to have speciated in sympatry by complex include morphologically similar species, each divergence of host plant association. Both of these fly closely associated with a particular host plant. Host races species are attacked by the specialist braconid parasitoid, of the apple maggot fly, R. pomonella (Walsh), are at- Diachasma alloeum. The current study demonstrates that tracted to exact blends of volatiles emitted by their spe- both male and female D. alloeum exhibit a behavioral cific host fruit (Nojima et al. 2003a, b; Linn et al. 2003). preference for the odor of the fruit of their larval The Rhagoletis sibling species complex has served as a Rhagoletis host species. Specifically, those D. alloeum long-running model system for sympatric speciation emerging from puparia of R. pomonella are preferentially given the unique biology of these animals (Bush 1966; attracted to hawthorn fruit and those emerging from pu- Berlocher 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Amino Acid Synthesis Loss in Parasitoid Wasps and Other Hymenopterans
    This article has been retracted. Read the retraction notice RESEARCH ARTICLE Amino acid synthesis loss in parasitoid wasps and other hymenopterans Xinhai Ye1,2†, Shijiao Xiong1†, Ziwen Teng1, Yi Yang1, Jiale Wang1, Kaili Yu1, Huizi Wu1, Yang Mei1, Zhichao Yan1, Sammy Cheng2, Chuanlin Yin1, Fang Wang1, Hongwei Yao1, Qi Fang1, Qisheng Song3, John H Werren2‡*, Gongyin Ye1‡*, Fei Li1‡* 1State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology & Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; 2Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, United States; 3Division of Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, United States Abstract Insects utilize diverse food resources which can affect the evolution of their genomic repertoire, including leading to gene losses in different nutrient pathways. Here, we investigate gene loss in amino acid synthesis pathways, with special attention to hymenopterans and parasitoid wasps. Using comparative genomics, we find that synthesis capability for tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and histidine was lost in holometabolous insects prior to hymenopteran divergence, while valine, leucine, and isoleucine were lost in the common ancestor of Hymenoptera. *For correspondence: Subsequently, multiple loss events of lysine synthesis occurred independently in the Parasitoida [email protected] (JHW); and Aculeata. Experiments in the parasitoid Cotesia chilonis confirm that it has lost the ability to [email protected] (GY); synthesize eight amino acids. Our findings provide insights into amino acid synthesis evolution, and [email protected] (FL) specifically can be used to inform the design of parasitoid artificial diets for pest control.
    [Show full text]