Project description:The purpose of this project was to identify venom proteins from the venom gland of Leptopilina heterotoma (strain Lh14), a parasitoid wasp species that infects fruit flies in the genus Drosophila.
Project description:The purpose of this project was to identify venom proteins from the venom gland of Leptopilina boulardi (strain Lb17), a parasitoid wasp species that infects fruit flies in the genus Drosophila.
Project description:The purpose of this project was to identify venom proteins from the venom gland of Ganaspis hookeri (strain GhFl, formerly 'G1'), a parasitoid wasp species that infects fruit flies in the genus Drosophila.
2021-01-27 | PXD023825 | Pride
Project description:Parasitoid wasp Asobara sequencing
Project description:Diachasmimorpha longicaudata parasitoid wasps carry a symbiotic poxvirus, known as DlEPV, within the female wasp venom gland. We sequenced RNA from venom gland tissue to identify DlEPV orthologs for 3 conserved poxvirus core genes. The DlEPV ORFs identified from this transcriptome were used to design primers for downstream RT-qPCR analysis and RNAi knockdown experiments.
Project description:Parasitoid wasps of the species Diachasmimorpha longicaudata are associated with a heritable poxvirus, known as DlEPV, that is stored in the venom gland of adult female wasps and transferred to tephritid fly hosts of the wasps during oviposition. We conducted a RNA-seq differential expression analysis to gain insight on how DlEPV can replicate in both wasps and their fly hosts but only cause pathogenic effects during replication in flies. Our analysis revealed that 91.2% (176 of 193) of DlEPV genes showed significant differential expression during peak virus replication in wasp venom glands compared to parasitized flies. Over 80% of DlEPV replication genes were significantly upregulated in wasps, while 79% of DlEPV putative virulence genes were significantly upregulated in fly hosts. These data therefore support a dichotomy of viral function, where virus replication is promoted in wasp tissue and virulence in host tissue. Such a division of viral activity could represent an important adaptation to maintain a stable symbiosis between this virus and its associated parasitoid.
Project description:Multinucleated giant hemocytes (MGHs) represent a novel type of blood cell in insects that participate in a highly efficient immune response against parasitoid wasps involving isolation and killing of the parasite. Previously we showed that circulating MGHs have high motility and interaction with the parasitoid rapidly triggers encapsulation, structural and molecular mechanisms behind these processes remained elusive. Here, we use detailed ultrastructural analysis of MGHs and also live cell imaging to study encapsulation in Drosophila ananassae after parasitoid wasp infection. We found dynamic structural changes, mainly driven by the formation of diverse vesicular systems and a large variety of newly developed intracytoplasmic membrane organizations, moreover abundant generation of giant cell exosomes (GCE) in the MGHs. Moreover, we used RNA sequencing to study the transcriptomic profile of MGHs and the activated plasmatocytes 72 hours after infection, as well as the uninduced blood cells. This reveals that differentiation of MGHs is accompanied by broad changes in gene expression. Consistent with the observed structural changes, transcripts mainly related to vesicular function, cytoskeletal organization and adhesion were enriched in MGHs. In addition, transmembrane receptors were upregulated, which may be important for parasitoid recognition. Our results reveal coordinated molecular and structural changes in the course of MGH differentiation and parasitoid encapsulation, providing a mechanistic model for a powerful innate immune response.