Analysis of Genetic Variation across the Encapsidated Genome of Microplitis demolitor Bracovirus in Parasitoid Wasps.

ABSTRACT: Insect parasitoids must complete part of their life cycle within or on another insect, ultimately resulting in the death of the host insect. One group of parasitoid wasps, the 'microgastroid complex' (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), engage in an association with beneficial symbiotic viruses that are essential for successful parasitism of hosts. These viruses, known as Bracoviruses, persist in an integrated form in the wasp genome, and activate to replicate in wasp ovaries during development to ultimately be delivered into host insects during parasitism. The lethal nature of host-parasitoid interactions, combined with the involvement of viruses in mediating these interactions, has led to the hypothesis that Bracoviruses are engaged in an arms race with hosts, resulting in recurrent adaptation in

SUBMITTER: Burke GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4938607 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature