Exploring the potential of genetic improvement of insects : a case study using the haplodiploid parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuwen Xia
2007 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 678-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.H. King

AbstractWhen habitat quality is variable, there should be strong selection for the ability to detect and respond to the variation. Adult females of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) are known to increase their restlessness (the proportion of time in locomotion) both during and after exposure to a poor quality host. Doing so provides a mechanism for leaving a poor host and potentially finding a better host. This study examined whether restlessness also changes in response to competition as indicated by the presence of adult conspecifics. Both restlessness and the probability of dispersing across an inhospitable environment were greater when a female was with another female than when she was alone. However, restlessness did not remain elevated after the other female was removed. In contrast with females, restlessness of males did not increase either during or after exposure to other males, and the probability of dispersing across an inhospitable environment was unaffected by the presence of another male. The difference between females and males may be related to differences in dispersal ability and in the abundance and distribution of hosts versus mates.


Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Pultz ◽  
J.N. Pitt ◽  
N.M. Alto

Insect axis formation is best understood in Drosophila melanogaster, where rapid anteroposterior patterning of zygotic determinants is directed by maternal gene products. The earliest zygotic control is by gap genes, which determine regions of several contiguous segments and are largely conserved in insects. We have asked genetically whether early zygotic patterning genes control similar anteroposterior domains in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis as in Drosophila. Nasonia is advantageous for identifying and studying recessive zygotic lethal mutations because unfertilized eggs develop as males while fertilized eggs develop as females. Here we describe recessive zygotic mutations identifying three Nasonia genes: head only mutant embryos have posterior defects, resembling loss of both maternal and zygotic Drosophila caudal function; headless mutant embryos have anterior and posterior gap defects, resembling loss of both maternal and zygotic Drosophila hunchback function; squiggy mutant embryos develop only four full trunk segments, a phenotype more severe than those caused by lack of Drosophila maternal or zygotic terminal gene functions. These results indicate greater dependence on the zygotic genome to control early patterning in Nasonia than in the fly.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 2885-2892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Cook ◽  
Urmi Trivedi ◽  
Bart A. Pannebakker ◽  
Mark Blaxter ◽  
Michael G. Ritchie ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 151-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Jiun Jean Tsai ◽  
Edward M. Barrows ◽  
Martha R. Weiss

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 971-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Shuker ◽  
Sarah E. Reece ◽  
Alison Lee ◽  
Aleta Graham ◽  
Alison B. Duncan ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-209
Author(s):  
N. K. Khanna ◽  
O. P. Shukla ◽  
M. G. Gogate ◽  
S. L. Narkhede

Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.India is one of the major producers/consumers of paper and pulp products (3–4% of global share). Approximately one-fourth of industry raw material has come from wood-based plantations from the 1990s onwards. The greatest development challenge faced by the industry since that time is sourcing robust raw material from agroforestry on private lands. Following genetic improvement of leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) and realization of its potential as a multiple-use species, it was introduced into India in 1980 under an international cooperation effort with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It has since spread across the country as a panacea for rural needs of fuel wood, small timber and cattle forage.The paper industry has found that it has potential as raw material for paper making. One of the largest Indian paper companies is JK Paper Ltd, which has an annual production capacity of 550,000 t/yr with 3 integrated pulp and paper plants located at Songadh (Gujarat), Rayagada (Orissa) and Kagaznagar (Telangana) producing writing and printing paper and virgin packaging boards.This case study describes the leucaena farm forestry plantation program initiated by JK Paper Ltd, Unit CPM (Central Pulp Mills). The unit, under its agroforestry and farm forestry plantation approach, planted leucaena plantations in 2009-2010 in parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh States. To motivate farmers in the mill’s catchment area, and to build confidence in on-farm plantations, exposure visits were arranged to Andhra Pradesh, where huge tracts of agricultural land were under leucaena plantations. As a result, to date, this unit has engaged >7,800 farmers who have established leucaena plantations covering an area of >18,400 ha.A robust plantation R&D network addressed issues such as seed treatment, seed germination, rhizobial inoculation, geometry of plantations, agro-forestry models, selection and development of high production clones, establishment of clonal seed orchards, genetic improvement through mutation techniques and hybridization programs for wood quality improvement.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R.C. Jones ◽  
E.B. Mallon

AbstractThe allocation of resources to the production of one sex or another has been observed in a large variety of animals. Its theoretical basis allows accurate predictions of offspring sex ratios in many species, but the mechanisms by which sex allocation is controlled are poorly understood. Using previously published data we investigated if alternative splicing, combined with differential expression, were involved with sex allocation in the parasitoid wasp, Nasonia vitripennis. We found that sex allocation is not controlled by alternative splicing but changes in gene expression, that were identified to be involved with oviposition, were shown to be similar to those involved in sperm motility, and capacitation. Genes involved in Cholesterol efflux, a key component of capacitation, along with calcium transport, trypsin and MAPKinase activity were regulated in ovipositing wasps. The results show evidence for regulation of sperm motility and of capacitation in an insect which, in the context of the physiology of the N. vitripennis spermatheca, could be important for sex allocation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document