Adaptive selection on bracovirus genomes drives the specialization of Cotesia parasitoid wasps.

ABSTRACT: The geographic mosaic of coevolution predicts parasite virulence should be locally adapted to the host community. Cotesia parasitoid wasps adapt to local lepidopteran species possibly through their symbiotic bracovirus. The virus, essential for the parasitism success, is at the heart of the complex coevolutionary relationship linking the wasps and their hosts. The large segmented genome contained in the virus particles encodes virulence genes involved in host immune and developmental suppression. Coevolutionary arms race should result in the positive selection of particular beneficial alleles. To understand the global role of bracoviruses in the local adaptation or specialization of parasitoid wasps to their hosts, we studied the molecular evolution of four bracoviruses associated with was

SUBMITTER: Jancek S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3665748 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature