Project description:Venom injected at oviposition is crucial for successful reproduction in most parasitoid wasp species (Moreau & Asgari 2015; Poirié et al. 2014). The venom of the pea aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi was analyzed previously using a combined transcriptomic and proteomic approach (Colinet et al. 2014) and we applied similar methods here to compare the venom composition in Lysiphlebus fabarum, that also used the pea aphid as host. Venom was extracted from the L. fabarum venom gland and analyzed using 1D gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. A total of 35 L. fabarum proteins were identified as putative venom proteins using these results combined with available transcriptomic data (Dennis et al. 2017) and the genomic data.
2020-04-24 | PXD015758 | Pride
Project description:Full-length transcriptome of the Cotesia vestalis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
Project description:Cotesia vestalis bracoviruses (CvBVs) are domesticated endogenous viruses (DEVs) derived from ancestral nudiviruses and are integrated into the genome of the parasitoid wasp C. vestalis. The CvBV proviral genome is composed of two distinct components: one encoding genes associated with virion morphogenesis and assembly, and the other harboring virulence genes that are excised, circularized, and packaged into virions. CvBV replication and particle assembly occur exclusively in the ovaries of female wasps. While prior studies have largely focused on the function of virulence genes during parasitization, the molecular mechanisms underlying CvBV replication and assembly have remained largely unknown. In this study, we employed an integrative approach to dissect the CvBV gene set responsible for these processes. We systematically identified 71 conserved nudivirus-like genes in the C. vestalis genome and functionally characterized 21 of them. Among these, three genes involved in transcriptional regulation (p47, lef-5, lef-9) were highlighted. Notably, we discovered three previously unrecognized promoter motifs upstream of CvBV structural genes, revealing novel lineage-specific regulatory elements that may coordinate temporal gene expression via the viral RNA polymerase complex. Additionally, we characterized three CvBV replication-related genes (helicase, integrase-1/-2), eight capsid-related genes (vp39, PmV, HzNVorf9-1, HzNVorf9-2, HzNVorf106, 38k, 27b, K425_459), five genes associated with envelope formation (11k, 17a-1, 35a-1, 35a-2, K425_461), three genes required for virion assembly (vlf-1, HzNVorf140-1, HzNVorf140-2), and two viral infectivity factors (vp91, pif-0). Together, these findings provide the first comprehensive view of the key regulators controlling CvBV production, assembly, and infectivity, offering novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying bracovirus biogenesis and the evolutionary divergence of CvBVs from their nudiviral ancestors.
2026-05-29 | GSE306358 | GEO
Project description:Transcriptome of Cotesia vestalis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) during different developmental stages