ABSTRACT: Ultraconserved elements-based systematics reveals evolutionary patterns of host-plant family shifts and phytophagy within a predominantly parasitoid wasp family
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.
2020-02-03 | GSE144541 | GEO
Project description:Phylogenomic analysis of evolutionary relationships in Ranitomeya poison frogs (Family Dendrobatidae) using ultraconserved elements
| PRJNA779027 | ENA
Project description:Parasitoid Wasp Sequencing Project
| PRJNA167911 | ENA
Project description:Parasitoid wasp Asobara sequencing
| PRJNA661661 | ENA
Project description:Evolutionary Relationships of Anglerfishes (Lophiiformes) Reconstructed using Ultraconserved Elements
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: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: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.
Project description:Non-coding ultraconserved regions showing hundreds of consecutive bases of perfect evolutionary sequence conservation across mammalian genomes have intrigued biologists in the decade since they were first described. While many of these sequences are known to represent distant-acting enhancers, initial deletion studies in mice showed that their loss had no obvious impact on viability or fertility. To explore the discrepancy between extraordinary evolutionary constraint and an apparent lack of phenotypes when deleted in vivo, we used genome editing to create an expanded series of knockout mice lacking individual or combinations of ultraconserved brain enhancers near the essential neuronal transcription factor Arx. While the loss of any single or pair of ultraconserved enhancers resulted in viable and fertile mice, detailed phenotyping revealed neurological or growth abnormalities in nearly all cases, including substantial alterations of neuron populations and abnormalities of the dentate gyrus. Our results demonstrate the functional importance of ultraconserved enhancers and highlight that extreme sequence conservation may result from evolutionary selection against fitness deficits that appear subtle in a laboratory setting.