impact of an exotic parasitoid on plutella xylostella (lepidoptera: plutellidae) population dynamics, damage and indigenous natural enemies in kenya. | diadegma semiclausum (hellén) (hymenoptera: lchneumonidae), an exotic diamondback moth parasitoid, was released in two pilot areas (werugha in coast region and tharuni in central province) in kenya. fifteen month before release, observations on the diamondback moth, plutella xylostella (linnaeus), and local natural enemy population dynamics and pest damage were initiated in both areas and continued for three years after release. the p. xylostella population was bimodal with higher records during ... | 2007 | 17645815 |
parasitic castration of plutella xylostella larvae induced by polydnaviruses and venom of cotesia vestalis and diadegma semiclausum. | in the present study, we used gamma-ray to irradiate the female parasitoids to make wasp eggs infertile, resulting in pseudoparasitization, which allowed the analysis of maternal secretions such as polydnaviruses (pdvs) and venom in the absence of larval secretions or teratocytes by the growing parasitoids. we then investigated the spermatogenesis and components of testicular proteins of male plutella xylostella larvae pseudoparasitized by two endoparasitoids (cotesia vestalis and diadegma semic ... | 2009 | 18949808 |
the endoparasitoid, cotesia vestalis, regulates host physiology by reprogramming the neuropeptide transcriptional network. | endoparasitoids develop inside another insect by regulating host immunity and development via maternal factors injected into hosts during oviposition. prior results have provided insights into parasitism-induced immunosuppression, including the neuropeptide accumulation in parasitized insects. nonetheless, our understanding of neuropeptide influence on host development and behavior is not yet complete. we posed the hypothesis that parasitization alters expression of genes encoding pro-neuropepti ... | 2015 | 25640113 |
transcriptome pyrosequencing of the parasitoid wasp cotesia vestalis: genes involved in the antennal odorant-sensory system. | cotesia vestalis is an endoparasitic wasp that attacks larvae of the diamondback moth (plutella xylostella), a herbivore of cruciferous plants. females of c. vestalis use herbivore-induced plant odorants released from plants infested by p. xylostella as a host-searching cue. transcriptome pyrosequencing was used to identify genes in the antennae of c. vestalis adult females coding for odorant receptors (ors) and odorant binding proteins (obps) involved in insect olfactory perception. quantitativ ... | 2012 | 23226348 |
developmental responses of the diamondback moth parasitoid diadegma semiclausum (hellén) (hymenoptera: ichneumonidae) to temperature and host plant species. | effects of constant rearing temperature and the plant species fed upon by its hosts were investigated for several developmental parameters of diadegma semiclausum (hellén), an important parasitoid of the diamondback moth, plutella xylostella (l.). temperature had highly significant effects on all developmental parameters measured, and effects were usually both linear and quadratic with increasing temperature. host plant species, comprising brassica napus l., brassica rapa l. ssp. pekinensis and ... | 2011 | 22127052 |
deep sequencing of cotesia vestalis bracovirus reveals the complexity of a polydnavirus genome. | here we completed the whole genome sequence of cotesia vestalis bracovirus (cvbv) by deep sequencing and compared the genome features of cvbv to those of other polydnaviruses (pdvs). the genome is 540,215 base pairs divided into 35 genomic segments that range from 2.6 to 39.2kb. comparison of cvbv with other pdvs shows that more segments are found, including new segments that have no corresponding segments in other phylogenetically related pdvs, which suggests that there might be still more segm ... | 2011 | 21470650 |
effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone on volatile terpenoid emissions and multitrophic communication of transgenic insecticidal oilseed rape (brassica napus). | does transgenically incorporated insect resistance affect constitutive and herbivore-inducible terpenoid emissions and multitrophic communication under elevated atmospheric co(2) or ozone (o(3))? this study aimed to clarify the possible interactions between allocation to direct defences (bacillus thuringiensis (bt) toxin production) and that to endogenous indirect defences under future climatic conditions. terpenoid emissions were measured from vegetative-stage non-bt and bt brassica napus grown ... | 2009 | 19076723 |
characterization of midgut trypsinogen-like cdna and enzymatic activity in plutella xylostella parasitized by cotesia vestalis or diadegma semiclausum. | protein digestion in insects is a result of the action of a complex of proteinases present in the midgut. in this report we describe the cloning and sequencing of a trypsin cdna from larvae of the lepidopteran herbivore plutella xylostella. we investigated the expression of this gene and enzymatic activity of its translation product with n-a-benzoyl-l-arginine p-nitroanilide (bapna) as substrate in p. xylostella larvae that were either unparasitized or parasitized by cotesia vestalis or diadegma ... | 2009 | 18618770 |
interspecific competition between two endoparasitoids cotesia vestalis (hymenoptera: braconidae) and oomyzus sokolowskii (hymenoptera: eulophidae). | two endoparasitoids, cotesia vestalis and oomyzus sokolowskii, parasitize the same host, larvae of plutella xylostella. these two species have evolved different parasitization strategies. o. sokolowskii expresses a single factor, venom, and exerts virtually no detrimental effects on the development of its host. c. vestalis, on the other hand, injects polydnavirus (pdv) and venom during oviposition, and teratocytes are released into the host's hemolymph after egg hatching. parasitization suppress ... | 2011 | 21322005 |
biological study of plutella xylostella (l.) (lep: plutellidae) and it's solitary endoparasitoid, cotesia vestalis (haliday) (hym. braconidae) under laboratory conditions. | plutella xylostella (l.) (lep: plutellidae), is a destructive pest of brassicaceous crops in the world. cotesia vestalis (haliday) is one of most important biological control agents of p. xylostella in the world and iran. both of p. xylostella and c. vestalis biology were carried out in laboratory condition. results showed that development time of immature stages of p. xylostella including egg, instar i, instar ii, instar iii, instar iv, prepupa, pupa were 2.39 +/- 0.17, 2.18 +/- 0.17, 2.06 +/- ... | 2011 | 22335048 |
four heat shock protein genes of the endoparasitoid wasp, cotesia vestalis, and their transcriptional profiles in relation to developmental stages and temperature. | heat shock proteins (hsps) play important roles in the environmental adaptation of various organisms. to explore the functions of hsps in relation to heat stress and development in cotesia vestalis, a solitary larval endoparasitoid of plutella xylostella, four heat shock protein genes, cvhsp40, cvhsc70, cvhsp70 and cvhsp90, were cloned and sequenced from c. vestalis by real-time quantitative pcr and race. the cdna sequence of cvhsp40, cvhsc70, cvhsp70 and cvhsp90 were 1473 bp, 2316 bp, 2279 bp a ... | 2013 | 23527260 |
effects of plant availability on population size and dynamics of an insect community: diamondback moth and two of its parasitoids. | to understand the effect of plant availability/structure on the population size and dynamics of insects, a specialist herbivore in the presence of two of its parasitoids was studied in four replicated time-series experiments with high and low plant availabilities; under the latter condition, the herbivore suffered from some periods of resource limitation (starvation) and little plant-related structural refuges. population dynamics of the parasitoid cotesia vestalis was governed mainly by the del ... | 2014 | 24521693 |
parasitism performance and fitness of cotesia vestalis (hymenoptera: braconidae) infected with nosema sp. (microsporidia: nosematidae): implications in integrated pest management strategy. | the diamondback moth (dbm) plutella xylostella (l.) has traditionally been managed using synthetic insecticides. however, the increasing resistance of dbm to insecticides offers an impetus to practice integrated pest management (ipm) strategies by exploiting its natural enemies such as pathogens, parasitoids, and predators. nevertheless, the interactions between pathogens and parasitoids and/or predators might affect the effectiveness of the parasitoids in regulating the host population. thus, t ... | 2014 | 24968125 |
retraction to: characterization of a novel cotesia vestalis polydnavirus (cvbv) gene containing a ser-rich motif expressed in plutella xylostella larvae. | | 2014 | 25057517 |
population-level consequences of complementary sex determination in a solitary parasitoid. | sex determination mechanisms are known to be evolutionarily labile but the factors driving transitions in sex determination mechanisms are poorly understood. all insects of the hymenoptera are haplodiploid, with males normally developing from unfertilized haploid eggs. under complementary sex determination (csd), diploid males can be produced from fertilized eggs that are homozygous at the sex locus. diploid males have near-zero fitness and thus represent a genetic load, which is especially seve ... | 2015 | 26025754 |
cotesia vestalis teratocytes express a diversity of genes and exhibit novel immune functions in parasitism. | some endoparasitoid wasps lay eggs that produce cells called teratocytes. in this study, we sequenced and analyzed the transcriptome of teratocytes from the solitary endoparasitoid cotesia vestalis (braconidae), which parasitizes larval stage plutella xylostella (plutellidae). results identified many teratocyte transcripts with potential functions in affecting host immune defenses, growth or metabolism. characterization of teratocyte-secreted venom-like protein 8 (tsvp-8) indicated it inhibits m ... | 2016 | 27254821 |
cotesia vestalis parasitization suppresses expression of a plutella xylostella thioredoxin. | thioredoxins (trxs) are a family of small, highly conserved and ubiquitous proteins involved in protecting organisms against toxic reactive oxygen species. in this study, a typical thioredoxin gene, pxtrx, was isolated from plutella xylostella. the full-length cdna sequence is composed of 959 bp containing a 321 bp open reading frame that encodes a predicted protein of 106 amino acids, a predicted molecular weight of 11.7 kda and an isoelectric point of 5.03. pxtrx was mainly expressed in larval ... | 2016 | 27376399 |
gamma irradiation on canola seeds affects herbivore-plant and host-parasitoid interactions. | as an agricultural modernization, gamma irradiation is an important method for enhancing crop yield and quality. nevertheless, its use can alter other plant traits such as nutrition and resistance to different biotic/abiotic stresses that consequently affect plant-insect interactions. a tritrophic system was utilized based on two canola mutant lines produced through gamma irradiation (rgs 8-1 and talaye 8-3). plutella xylostella (l.), as a worldwide pest of brassicaceae and cotesia vestalis (hol ... | 2016 | 27838875 |
parasitised caterpillars suffer reduced predation: potential implications for intra-guild predation. | intra-guild predation (igp) is an important phenomenon structuring ecological communities and affects the success of biological control. here we show that parasitism by the koinobiont wasp cotesia vestalis is associated with behavioural changes in its larval host (diamondback moth, plutella xylostella) that reduce risk of igp. compared with unparasitised caterpillars, parasitised p. xylostella moved less frequently to new feeding patches on plants and were less likely to fall from the plant. wol ... | 2017 | 28230205 |
present or past herbivory: a screening of volatiles released from brassica rapa under caterpillar attacks as attractants for the solitary parasitoid, cotesia vestalis. | females of the solitary endoparasitoid cotesia vestalis respond to a blend of volatile organic compounds (vocs) released from plants infested with larvae of their host, the diamondback moth (plutella xylostella), which is an important pest insect of cruciferous plants. we investigated the flight response of female parasitoids to the cruciferous plant brassica rapa, using two-choice tests under laboratory conditions. the parasitoids were more attracted to plants that had been infested for at leas ... | 2010 | 20490899 |
herbivore-specific, density-dependent induction of plant volatiles: honest or "cry wolf" signals? | plants release volatile chemicals upon attack by herbivorous arthropods. they do so commonly in a dose-dependent manner: the more herbivores, the more volatiles released. the volatiles attract predatory arthropods and the amount determines the probability of predator response. we show that seedlings of a cabbage variety (brassica oleracea var. capitata, cv shikidori) also show such a response to the density of cabbage white (pieris rapae) larvae and attract more (naive) parasitoids (cotesia glom ... | 2010 | 20808961 |
parasitoids select plants more heavily infested with their caterpillar hosts: a new approach to aid interpretation of plant headspace volatiles. | plants produce volatile organic compounds (vocs) in response to herbivore attack, and these vocs can be used by parasitoids of the herbivore as host location cues. we investigated the behavioural responses of the parasitoid cotesia vestalis to vocs from a plant-herbivore complex consisting of cabbage plants (brassica oleracea) and the parasitoids host caterpillar, plutella xylostella. a y-tube olfactometer was used to compare the parasitoids' responses to vocs produced as a result of different l ... | 2011 | 21270031 |
utilizing associational resistance for biocontrol: impacted by temperature, supported by indirect defence. | associational herbivore resistance is potentiated by neighbouring heterogenic plant species that impact a focal plant's attraction to herbivores or the damage that they cause. one mechanism to confer associational resistance is believed to be exposure to neighbour-emitted volatiles, the receivers of which range from intra- and interspecific neighbour plants to higher-trophic-level insects. in previous studies the passive adsorption of neighbour-emitted semivolatiles has been reported, but little ... | 2015 | 26022675 |
effects of population-related variation in plant primary and secondary metabolites on aboveground and belowground multitrophic interactions. | insects feeding on aboveground and belowground tissues can influence each other through their shared plant and this is often mediated by changes in plant chemistry. we examined the effects of belowground root fly (delia radicum) herbivory on the performance of an aboveground herbivore (plutella xylostella) and its endoparasitoid wasp (cotesia vestalis). insects were reared on three populations of wild cabbage (brassica oleracea) plants, exhibiting qualitative and quantitative differences in root ... | 2016 | 27795618 |
identification and characterization of defensin genes from the endoparasitoid wasp cotesia vestalis (hymenoptera: braconidae). | defensins are members of a large and diverse family of antimicrobial peptides (amps) containing three or four intramolecular disulfide bonds. they are widely distributed from vertebrates to invertebrates, and serve as critical defense molecules protecting the host from the invasion of pathogens or protozoan parasites. cotesia vestalis is a small endoparasitoid wasp that lays eggs in larvae of plutella xylostella, a cosmopolitan pest of cruciferous crops. we identified and characterized three ful ... | 2013 | 24013003 |
evidence of horizontal transfer of non-autonomous lep1 helitrons facilitated by host-parasite interactions. | horizontal transfer (ht) of transposable elements has been recognized to be a major force driving genomic variation and biological innovation of eukaryotic organisms. however, the mechanisms of ht in eukaryotes remain poorly appreciated. the non-autonomous helitron family, lep1, has been found to be widespread in lepidopteran species, and showed little interspecific sequence similarity of acquired sequences at 3' end, which makes lep1 a good candidate for the study of ht. in this study, we descr ... | 2014 | 24874102 |
comparative mitogenomics of braconidae (insecta: hymenoptera) and the phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genomes with special reference to holometabolous insects. | animal mitochondrial genomes are potential models for molecular evolution and markers for phylogenetic and population studies. previous research has shown interesting features in hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes. here, we conducted a comparative study of mitochondrial genomes of the family braconidae, one of the largest families of hymenoptera, and assessed the utility of mitochondrial genomic data for phylogenetic inference at three different hierarchical levels, i.e., braconidae, hymenoptera ... | 2010 | 20537196 |
characterization of a novel gene encoding ankyrin repeat domain from cotesia vestalis polydnavirus (cvbv). | cotesia vestalis (haliday) is an endoparasitoid of plutella xylostella (l.) larvae and injects a polydnavirus (cvbv) into its host during oviposition. in this report we describe the characterization of a gene (cvbv805) and its products. cvbv805 is located on the segment s8 of cvbv genome; it has a size of 909 bp and encodes a predicted protein of 125 amino acids. this protein contains an ankyrin repeat domain with a high degree of similarity with ikappab-like genes. gene transcripts were detecte ... | 2008 | 18353418 |
characterization of two genes of cotesia vestalis polydnavirus and their expression patterns in the host plutella xylostella. | cotesia vestalis is an endoparasitoid of larval stages of plutella xylostella, the diamondback moth. for successful parasitization, this parasitoid injects a polydnavirus into its host during oviposition. here we isolated two genes, which we named cvbv1 and cvbv2. cvbv1 was located on segment cvbv-s5 with a size of 790 bp, while cvbv2 was located on segment cvbv-s51 with a size of 459 bp. a gene copy of cvbv2 was found on segment cvbv-s48, which we name cvbv2'. gene duplication occurred in both ... | 2007 | 18024901 |
diploid males sire triploid daughters and sons in the parasitoid wasp cotesia vestalis. | in the hymenoptera, males develop as haploids from unfertilized eggs and females develop as diploids from fertilized eggs. in species with complementary sex determination (csd), however, diploid males develop from zygotes that are homozygous at a highly polymorphic sex locus or loci. we investigated mating behavior and reproduction of diploid males of the parasitoid wasp cotesia vestalis (c. plutellae), for which we recently demonstrated csd. we show that the behavior of diploid males of c. vest ... | 2007 | 17551527 |
four serine protease cdnas from the midgut of plutella xylostella and their proteinase activity are influenced by the endoparasitoid, cotesia vestalis. | serine proteinases, which include trypsins and chymotrypsins, play numerous roles in lepidopteran larvae, such as digestion, zymogen activation, and immune defense. studies of lepidopteran serine proteinases could increase understanding of their feeding preference (polyphagous and monophagous) and facilitate identification of protease inhibitors, which can be engineered for pest management. in this paper, four full-length cdnas encoding one chymotrypsin and three trypsins were cloned from larval ... | 2013 | 23606528 |
parasitic wasp females are attracted to blends of host-induced plant volatiles: do qualitative and quantitative differences in the blend matter? | naïve cotesia vestalis wasps, parasitoids of diamondback moth (dbm) larvae, are attracted to a synthetic blend (blend a) of host-induced plant volatiles composed of sabinene, n-heptanal, α-pinene, and ( z)-3-hexenyl acetate, in a ratio of 1.8:1.3:2.0:3.0. we studied whether qualitative (adding ( r)-limonene: blend b) or quantitative changes (changing ratios: blend c) to blend a affected the olfactory response of c. vestalis in the background of intact komatsuna plant volatiles. naïve wasps showe ... | 2013 | 24358892 |
ultrastructure of the male reproductive system of cotesia vestalis (hymenoptera: braconidae) with preliminary characterization of the secretions. | the morphology and ultrastructure of testes and accessory glands along with the characterization of their secretions were investigated for a braconid species cotesia vestalis (hymenoptera: braconidae) using light and electron microscopes. the male internal reproductive system of this species is distinguished by a pair of testes, one vas deferens, and a pair of male accessory glands. the testes are separate, and the accessory glands are oval and not fused. it was observed that the secretory cells ... | 2007 | 17393488 |
complementary sex determination in the parasitoid wasp cotesia vestalis (c. plutellae). | in the hymenoptera, single locus complementary sex determination (sl-csd) describes a system where males develop either from unfertilized haploid eggs or from fertilized diploid eggs that are homozygous at a single polymorphic sex locus. diploid males are often inviable or sterile, and are produced more frequently under inbreeding. within families where sl-csd has been demonstrated, we predict that sl-csd should be more likely in species with solitary development than in species where siblings d ... | 2007 | 17210027 |
experimental support for multiple-locus complementary sex determination in the parasitoid cotesia vestalis. | despite its fundamental role in development, sex determination is highly diverse among animals. approximately 20% of all animals are haplodiploid, with haploid males and diploid females. haplodiploid species exhibit diverse but poorly understood mechanisms of sex determination. some hymenopteran insect species exhibit single-locus complementary sex determination (sl-csd), where heterozygosity at a polymorphic sex locus initiates female development. diploid males are homozygous at the sex locus a ... | 2008 | 18791258 |
characterization of a novel cotesia vestalis polydnavirus (cvbv) gene containing a ser-rich motif expressed in plutella xylostella larvae. | cotesia vestalis is an endoparasitoid of plutella xylostella larvae and injects a polydnavirus (cvbv) into its host during oviposition. in this report we characterize the gene, cvbv3307, and its products. cvbv3307 is located on segment s33 of the cvbv genome, is 517 bp, and encodes a putative protein of 122 amino acids, including a serine-rich region. the expression pattern of cvbv3307 in parasitized larvae and the subcellular localization of cvbv3307 only in granulocytes indicated that it might ... | 2008 | 18755074 |
characterization of an ikappab-like gene in cotesia vestalis polydnavirus. | cotesia vestalis (braconidae, hymenoptera) depends mainly on 3 regulatory factors to manipulate its host's development and immune response, including polydnavirus, venom, and teratocytes, among which polydnavirus plays a key role in suppressing the host immune system. in the present work, we cloned the full sequence of gene cvbv-ank2, encoding an ikappab-like protein in c. vestalis polydnavirus (cvbv). the full sequence of cvbv-ank2 is 955 bp, encoding 162 amino acids with a calculated molecular ... | 2008 | 18454492 |
characterization of a protein tyrosine phosphatase gene cvbv202 from cotesia vestalis polydnavirus (cvbv). | cotesia vestalis (haliday) (hymenoptera: braconidae) is an endoparasitoid of the larval stage of the diamondback moth, plutella xylostella (l.) (lepidoptera: plutellidae) and injects a polydnavirus (cvbv) into its host during oviposition. in this paper we characterize cvbv202 and its product. cvbv202 is located on segment s2 of cvbv genome; it has a size of 984 bp and encodes a putative protein of 328 amino acids, including protein phosphatase domain and tyrosine-specific protein phosphatase dom ... | 2008 | 18425572 |