Publications

sex chromosomes evolved from independent ancestral linkage groups in winged insects.	the evolution of a pair of chromosomes that differ in appearance between males and females (heteromorphic sex chromosomes) has occurred repeatedly across plants and animals. recent work has shown that the male heterogametic (xy) and female heterogametic (zw) sex chromosomes evolved independently from different pairs of homomorphic autosomes in the common ancestor of birds and mammals but also that x and z chromosomes share many convergent molecular features. however, little is known about how of ...	2012	22319158
improvement in the prediction of the translation initiation site through balancing methods, inclusion of acquired knowledge and addition of features to sequences of mrna.	the accurate prediction of the initiation of translation in sequences of mrna is an important activity for genome annotation. however, obtaining an accurate prediction is not always a simple task and can be modeled as a problem of classification between positive sequences (protein codifiers) and negative sequences (non-codifiers). the problem is highly imbalanced because each molecule of mrna has a unique translation initiation site and various others that are not initiators. therefore, this stu ...	2011	22369295
raalin, a transcript enriched in the honey bee brain, is a remnant of genomic rearrangement in hymenoptera.	we identified a predicted compact cysteine-rich sequence in the honey bee genome that we called 'raalin'. raalin transcripts are enriched in the brain of adult honey bee workers and drones, with only minimum expression in other tissues or in pre-adult stages. open-reading frame (orf) homologues of raalin were identified in the transcriptomes of fruit flies, mosquitoes and moths. the raalin-like gene from drosophila melanogaster encodes for a short secreted protein that is maximally expressed in ...	2012	22404450
allatotropin, leucokinin and akh in honey bees and other hymenoptera.	in the honey bee no allatotropin gene has been found, even though allatotropin stimulates the synthesis of juvenile hormone in this species. we report here that honey bees and other hymenoptera do have a typical allatotropin gene, although the peptides predicted have a somewhat different structure from that of other insect allatotropins. polyclonal antisera to honey bee allatotropin reacted with material in the neurohemal organs of the segmental nerves of abdominal ganglia. we were unable to fin ...	2012	22406227
discovery of defense- and neuropeptides in social ants by genome-mining.	natural peptides of great number and diversity occur in all organisms, but analyzing their peptidome is often difficult. with natural product drug discovery in mind, we devised a genome-mining approach to identify defense- and neuropeptides in the genomes of social ants from atta cephalotes (leaf-cutter ant), camponotus floridanus (carpenter ant) and harpegnathos saltator (basal genus). numerous peptide-encoding genes of defense peptides, in particular defensins, and neuropeptides or regulatory ...	2012	22448224
a vitellogenin polyserine cleavage site: highly disordered conformation protected from proteolysis by phosphorylation.	vitellogenin (vg) is an egg-yolk precursor protein in most oviparous species. in honeybee (apis mellifera), the protein (amvg) also affects social behavior and life-span plasticity. despite its manifold functions, the amvg molecule remains poorly understood. the subject of our structure-oriented amvg study is its polyserine tract - a little-investigated repetitive protein segment mostly found in insects. we previously reported that amvg is tissue specifically cleaved in the vicinity of this trac ...	0	22573762
oligonucleotide primers for targeted amplification of single-copy nuclear genes in apocritan hymenoptera.	published nucleotide sequence data from the mega-diverse insect order hymenoptera (sawflies, bees, wasps, and ants) are taxonomically scattered and still inadequate for reconstructing a well-supported phylogenetic tree for the order. the analysis of comprehensive multiple gene data sets obtained via targeted pcr could provide a cost-effective solution to this problem. however, oligonucleotide primers for pcr amplification of nuclear genes across a wide range of hymenopteran species are still sca ...	2012	22768134
unique features of odorant-binding proteins of the parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis revealed by genome annotation and comparative analyses.	insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, comprising over 90% of all metazoan life forms, and have adapted to a wide diversity of ecosystems in nearly all environments. they have evolved highly sensitive chemical senses that are central to their interaction with their environment and to communication between individuals. understanding the molecular bases of insect olfaction is therefore of great importance from both a basic and applied perspective. odorant binding proteins (ob ...	2012	22952629
genome-wide association between dna methylation and alternative splicing in an invertebrate.	gene bodies are the most evolutionarily conserved targets of dna methylation in eukaryotes. however, the regulatory functions of gene body dna methylation remain largely unknown. dna methylation in insects appears to be primarily confined to exons. two recent studies in apis mellifera (honeybee) and nasonia vitripennis (jewel wasp) analyzed transcription and dna methylation data for one gene in each species to demonstrate that exon-specific dna methylation may be associated with alternative spli ...	2012	22978521
evidence for compensatory evolution of ribosomal proteins in response to rapid divergence of mitochondrial rrna.	rapid evolution of mitochondrial dna (mtdna) places intrinsic selective pressures on many nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial functions. mitochondrial ribosomes, for example, are composed of mtdna-encoded ribosomal rnas (rrnas) and a set of more than 60 nuclear-encoded ribosomal proteins (mrp) distinct from the cytosolic rps (crp). we hypothesized that the rapid divergence of mt-rrna would result in rapid evolution of mrps relative to crps, which respond to slowly evolving nuclear-encoded rr ...	2013	22993236
isolation of arsenophonus nasoniae from ixodes ricinus ticks in slovakia.	the tick ixodes ricinus is the most prevalent and widely distributed tick species in central europe, commonly found in woodlands, heaths, and forests and particularly abundant in the alpine region. this tick readily bites humans and transmits a number of bacterial and viral pathogens. we collected 10 live nymphs of i. ricinus ticks from vegetation in the rovinka forest, slovakia, and isolated a strain of arsenophonus nasoniae from one tick using the bme/ctvm2 cell line. a new isolate was then su ...	2012	23182269
capa-gene products in the haematophagous sandfly phlebotomus papatasi (scopoli)--vector for leishmaniasis disease.	sandflies (phlebotominae, nematocera, diptera) are responsible for transmission of leishmaniasis and other protozoan-borne diseases in humans, and these insects depend on the regulation of water balance to cope with the sudden and enormous intake of blood over a very short time period. the sandfly inventory of neuropeptides, including those that regulate diuretic processes, is completely unknown. direct maldi-tof/tof mass spectrometric analysis of dissected ganglia of phlebotomus papatasi, combi ...	2012	23266568
insect wing membrane topography is determined by the dorsal wing epithelium.	the drosophila wing consists of a transparent wing membrane supported by a network of wing veins. previously, we have shown that the wing membrane cuticle is not flat but is organized into ridges that are the equivalent of one wing epithelial cell in width and multiple cells in length. these cuticle ridges have an anteroposterior orientation in the anterior wing and a proximodistal orientation in the posterior wing. the precise topography of the wing membrane is remarkable because it is a fusion ...	2013	23316434
partial venom gland transcriptome of a drosophila parasitoid wasp, leptopilina heterotoma, reveals novel and shared bioactive profiles with stinging hymenoptera.	analysis of natural host-parasite relationships reveals the evolutionary forces that shape the delicate and unique specificity characteristic of such interactions. the accessory long gland-reservoir complex of the wasp leptopilina heterotoma (figitidae) produces venom with virus-like particles. upon delivery, venom components delay host larval development and completely block host immune responses. the host range of this drosophila endoparasitoid notably includes the highly-studied model organis ...	2013	23688557
origin and evolution of a new exon of 14-3-3ξ in bees and phylogenetic analysis.	mutually exclusive splicing, one type of alternative splicing, involves selection of alternatively spliced exons arranged in tandem and creates protein products with substitution of one segment of the amino acid sequence for another. previous studies revealed that exon 5 of 14-3-3ξ from apis mellifera (western honeybee) had three mutually exclusive exons, while orthologous exon of nasonia vitripennis (parasitic wasp) had only two, suggesting that cases of exon gain or loss might have happened du ...	2013	23706076
patterning the dorsal-ventral axis of the wasp nasonia vitripennis.	regulatory networks composed of interacting genes are responsible for pattern formation and cell type specification in a wide variety of developmental contexts. evolution must act on these regulatory networks in order to change the proportions, distribution, and characteristics of specified cells. thus, understanding how these networks operate in homologous systems across multiple levels of phylogenetic divergence is critical for understanding the evolution of developmental systems. among the mo ...	2013	23735637
comparisons of the embryonic development of drosophila, nasonia, and tribolium.	studying the embryogenesis of diverse insect species is crucial to understanding insect evolution. here, we review current advances in understanding the development of two emerging model organisms: the wasp nasonia vitripennis and the beetle tribolium castaneum in comparison with the well-studied fruit fly drosophila melanogaster. although nasonia represents the most basally branching order of holometabolous insects, it employs a derived long germband mode of embryogenesis, more like that of dro ...	2017	23801665
the community of hymenoptera parasitizing necrophagous diptera in an urban biotope.	most reports published in the field of forensic entomology are focused on diptera and neglect the hymenoptera community. however, hymenoptera are part of the entomofaunal colonization of a dead body. the use of hymenoptera parasitoids in forensic entomology can be relevant to evaluate the time of death. hymenoptera parasitoids of the larvae and pupae of flies may play an important role in the estimation of the post-mortem period because their time of attack is often restricted to a small, well-d ...	0	23895458
function and evolution of dna methylation in nasonia vitripennis.	the parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis is an emerging genetic model for functional analysis of dna methylation. here, we characterize genome-wide methylation at a base-pair resolution, and compare these results to gene expression across five developmental stages and to methylation patterns reported in other insects. an accurate assessment of dna methylation across the genome is accomplished using bisulfite sequencing of adult females from a highly inbred line. one-third of genes show extensive ...	2013	24130511
a new embryonic pattern in parasitic wasps: divergence in early development may not be associated with lifestyle.	comparative embryogenesis of encarsia formosa and encarsia pergandiella (hymenoptera aphelinidae), two endoparasitoids of whiteflies (hemiptera aleyrodidae), revealed two strongly diverging developmental patterns. indeed, the centrolecithal anhydropic egg of e. formosa developed through a superficial cleavage, as it occurs in nasonia vitripennis, apis mellifera, and drosophila melanogaster. in contrast, the alecithal hydropic egg of e. pergandiella developed through holoblastic cleavage within a ...	2013	24261443
genomic imprinting and maternal effect genes in haplodiploid sex determination.	the research into the drosophila melanogaster sex-determining system has been at the basis of all further research on insect sex determination. this further research has made it clear that, for most insect species, the presence of sufficient functional transformer (tra) protein in the early embryonic stage is essential for female sexual development. in hymenoptera, functional analysis of sex determination by knockdown studies of sex-determining genes has only been performed for 2 species. the fi ...	2014	24356125
whole-genome dna methylation profile of the jewel wasp (nasonia vitripennis).	the epigenetic mark of dna methylation, the addition of a methyl (ch3) group to a cytosine residue, has been extensively studied in many mammalian genomes and, although it is commonly found at the promoter regions of genes, it is also involved in a number of different biological functions. in other complex animals, such as social insects, dna methylation has been determined to be involved in caste differentiation and to occur primarily in gene bodies. the role of methylation in nonsocial insects ...	2014	24381191
dual mode of embryonic development is highlighted by expression and function of nasonia pair-rule genes.	embryonic anterior-posterior patterning is well understood in drosophila, which uses 'long germ' embryogenesis, in which all segments are patterned before cellularization. in contrast, most insects use 'short germ' embryogenesis, wherein only head and thorax are patterned in a syncytial environment while the remainder of the embryo is generated after cellularization. we use the wasp nasonia (nv) to address how the transition from short to long germ embryogenesis occurred. maternal and gap gene e ...	2014	24599282
the expression and phylogenetics of the inhibitor cysteine knot peptide oclp1 in the honey bee apis mellifera.	small cysteine-rich peptides have diverse functions in insects including antimicrobial defense, phenoloxidase activity regulation, and toxic inhibition of ion channels of prey or predator. we combined bioinformatics and measurements of transcript abundance to start characterizing amoclp1, a recently discovered inhibitor cysteine knot peptide in the honey bee apis mellifera. we found that the genomes of ants, bees, and the wasp nasonia vitripennis encode orthologous sequences indicating that oclp ...	2014	24721445
phylogeny and oscillating expression of period and cryptochrome in short and long photoperiods suggest a conserved function in nasonia vitripennis.	photoperiodism, the ability to respond to seasonal varying day length with suitable life history changes, is a common trait in organisms that live in temperate regions. in most studied organisms, the circadian system appears to be the basis for photoperiodic time measurement. in insects this is still controversial: while some data indicate that the circadian system is causally involved in photoperiodism, others suggest that it may have a marginal or indirect role. resonance experiments in the pa ...	2014	24758403
parasitization by scleroderma guani influences expression of superoxide dismutase genes in tenebrio molitor.	superoxide dismutase (sod) is an antioxidant enzyme involved in detoxifying reactive oxygen species. in this study, we identified genes encoding the extracellular and intracellular copper-zinc sods (eccuznsod and iccuznsod) and a manganese sod (mnsod) in the yellow mealworm beetle, tenebrio molitor. the cdnas for eccuznsod, iccuznsod, and mnsod, respectively, encode 24.55, 15.81, and 23.14 kda polypeptides, which possess structural features typical of other insect sods. they showed 20-94% identi ...	2014	25042129
evidence for deep regulatory similarities in early developmental programs across highly diverged insects.	many genes familiar from drosophila development, such as the so-called gap, pair-rule, and segment polarity genes, play important roles in the development of other insects and in many cases appear to be deployed in a similar fashion, despite the fact that drosophila-like "long germband" development is highly derived and confined to a subset of insect families. whether or not these similarities extend to the regulatory level is unknown. identification of regulatory regions beyond the well-studied ...	0	25173756
nasonia vitripennis venom causes targeted gene expression changes in its fly host.	parasitoid wasps are diverse and ecologically important insects that use venom to modify their host's metabolism for the benefit of the parasitoid's offspring. thus, the effects of venom can be considered an 'extended phenotype' of the wasp. the model parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis has approximately 100 venom proteins, 23 of which do not have sequence similarity to known proteins. envenomation by n. vitripennis has previously been shown to induce developmental arrest, selective apoptosis an ...	2014	25319487
transcriptional activation is a conserved feature of the early embryonic factor zelda that requires a cluster of four zinc fingers for dna binding and a low-complexity activation domain.	delayed transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome is a nearly universal phenomenon in metazoans. immediately following fertilization, development is controlled by maternally deposited products, and it is not until later stages that widespread activation of the zygotic genome occurs. although the mechanisms driving this genome activation are currently unknown, the transcriptional activator zelda (zld) has been shown to be instrumental in driving this process in drosophila melanogaster. her ...	2014	25538246
simple method for fluorescence dna in situ hybridization to squashed chromosomes.	dna in situ hybridization (dna ish) is a commonly used method for mapping sequences to specific chromosome regions. this approach is particularly effective at mapping highly repetitive sequences to heterochromatic regions, where computational approaches face prohibitive challenges. here we describe a streamlined protocol for dna ish that circumvents formamide washes that are standard steps in other dna ish protocols. our protocol is optimized for hybridization with short single strand dna probes ...	2015	25591075
scrutinizing the immune defence inventory of camponotus floridanus applying total transcriptome sequencing.	defence mechanisms of organisms are shaped by their lifestyle, environment and pathogen pressure. carpenter ants are social insects which live in huge colonies comprising genetically closely related individuals in high densities within nests. this lifestyle potentially facilitates the rapid spread of pathogens between individuals. in concert with their innate immune system, social insects may apply external immune defences to manipulate the microbial community among individuals and within nests. ...	2015	26198742
molecular cloning and functional studies of two kazal-type serine protease inhibitors specifically expressed by nasonia vitripennis venom apparatus.	two cdna sequences of kazal-type serine protease inhibitors (kspis) in nasonia vitripennis, nvkspi-1 and nvkspi-2, were characterized and their open reading frames (orfs) were 198 and 264 bp, respectively. both nvkspi-1 and nvkspi-2 contained a typical kazal-type domain. real-time quantitative pcr (rt-qpcr) results revealed that nvkspi-1 and nvkspi-2 mrnas were mostly detected specifically in the venom apparatus, while they were expressed at lower levels in the ovary and much lower levels in oth ...	2015	26248077
the genome and methylome of a beetle with complex social behavior, nicrophorus vespilloides (coleoptera: silphidae).	testing for conserved and novel mechanisms underlying phenotypic evolution requires a diversity of genomes available for comparison spanning multiple independent lineages. for example, complex social behavior in insects has been investigated primarily with eusocial lineages, nearly all of which are hymenoptera. if conserved genomic influences on sociality do exist, we need data from a wider range of taxa that also vary in their levels of sociality. here, we present the assembled and annotated ge ...	2015	26454014
analysis of 5' gene regions reveals extraordinary conservation of novel non-coding sequences in a wide range of animals.	phylogenetic footprinting is a comparative method based on the principle that functional sequence elements will acquire fewer mutations over time than non-functional sequences. successful comparisons of distantly related species will thus yield highly important sequence elements likely to serve fundamental biological roles. rna regulatory elements are less well understood than those in dna. in this study we use the emerging model organism nasonia vitripennis, a parasitic wasp, in a comparative a ...	2015	26482678
a venom gland extracellular chitin-binding-like protein from pupal endoparasitoid wasps, pteromalus puparum, selectively binds chitin.	chitin-binding proteins (cbps) are present in many species and they act in a variety of biological processes. we analyzed a pteromalus puparum venom apparatus proteome and transcriptome and identified a partial gene encoding a possible cbp. here, we report cloning a full-length cdna of a sequence encoding a chitin-binding-like protein (ppcbp) from p. puparum, a pupal endoparasitoid of pieris rapae. the cdna encoded a 96-amino-acid protein, including a secretory signal peptide and a chitin-bindin ...	2015	26633500
comparative genomics of two closely related wolbachia with different reproductive effects on hosts.	wolbachia pipientis are obligate intracellular bacteria commonly found in many arthropods. they can induce various reproductive alterations in hosts, including cytoplasmic incompatibility, male-killing, feminization, and parthenogenetic development, and can provide host protection against some viruses and other pathogens. wolbachia differ from many other primary endosymbionts in arthropods because they undergo frequent horizontal transmission between hosts and are well known for an abundance of ...	2016	27189996
transcriptome analysis provides insight into venom evolution in a seed-parasitic wasp, megastigmus spermotrophus.	one of the most striking host range transitions is the evolution of plant parasitism from animal parasitism. parasitoid wasps that have secondarily evolved to attack plants (ie gall wasps and seed-feeders) demonstrate intimate associations with their hosts, yet the mechanism of plant-host manipulation is currently not known. there is, however, emerging evidence suggesting that ovipositional secretions play a role in plant manipulation. to investigate whether parasites have modified pre-existing ...	2016	27286234
superparasitism drives heritable symbiont epidemiology and host sex ratio in a wasp.	heritable microbial symbionts have profound impacts upon the biology of their arthropod hosts. whilst our current understanding of the dynamics of these symbionts is typically cast within a framework of vertical transmission only, horizontal transmission has been observed in a number of cases. for instance, several symbionts can transmit horizontally when their parasitoid hosts share oviposition patches with uninfected conspecifics, a phenomenon called superparasitism. despite this, horizontal t ...	2016	27322651
the venom gland transcriptome of the parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis highlights the importance of novel genes in venom function.	prior to egg laying the parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis envenomates its pupal host with a complex mixture of venom peptides. this venom induces several dramatic changes in the host, including developmental arrest, immunosuppression, and altered metabolism. the diverse and potent bioactivity of n. vitripennis venom provides opportunities for the development of novel acting pharmaceuticals based on these molecules. however, currently very little is known about the specific functions of individ ...	2016	27503142
ogs2: genome re-annotation of the jewel wasp nasonia vitripennis.	nasonia vitripennis is an emerging insect model system with haplodiploid genetics. it holds a key position within the insect phylogeny for comparative, evolutionary and behavioral genetic studies. the draft genomes for n. vitripennis and two sibling species were published in 2010, yet a considerable amount of transcriptiome data have since been produced thereby enabling improvements to the original (ogs1.2) annotated gene set. we describe and apply the evidentialgene method used to produce an up ...	2016	27561358
does pupal communication influence wolbachia-mediated cytoplasmic incompatibility?	wolbachia are widespread endosymbiotic bacteria found in terrestrial arthropods and filarial nematodes [1]. in insects, wolbachia generally rely on diverse strategies to manipulate their host's reproduction and favor their own vertical transmission through infected eggs [2]. one such mechanism is a sterility syndrome called 'cytoplasmic incompatibility'. cytoplasmic incompatibility occurs at fertilization, when a spermatozoon from a wolbachia-infected male fertilizes an uninfected egg. in this c ...	2017	28118585