A survey on pupae parasitoid species of Dendrolimushoui (Lajonquiere) (Lepidoptera, Lasiocampidae) in China.

Cryptomeriajaponicavar.sinensis Miquel in south China is currently overwhelmingly infested by a native caterpillar species, Dendrolimushoui (Lepidoptera), which is causing severe economic losses and ecological disasters in both planted and natural forests. Our results include report of five parasitoid species and eight parasitoid flies within D.houi and a dominant endoparasitoid species Kriechbaumerelladendrolimi, which attacks pupae of D.houi with a high parasitism rate. This result might be helpful to improve better identification and application in the future for potential biological control of D.houi in the forests of east Asia.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Plagiodera versicolora (Laicharting)(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

Plagiodera versicolora (Laicharting) is a leaf-eating pest widely distributed in the world. In this study, the first complete mitochondrial genome of P. Versicolora (Laicharting) was assembled and analyzed. The complete mitochondrial genome of P. Versicolora (Laicharting) is 16,857 bp with 22.39% GC containing, 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA), as well as an AT-rich region. Phylogenomic analysis indicated that P. Versicolora (Laicharting) is sister to Chrysomela populiThis study provides useful information for the identification of this species and the study of genetic evolution with other species of Chrysomelidae.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Chrysolina aeruginosa Fald (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

In this study, the first complete mitochondrial genome of Chrysolina aeruginosa Fald was assembled and analyzed. The total length of this mitochondrial genome is 16,335 base pairs. It consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs, and an AT-rich region. Phylogenomic analysis indicated that C. aeruginosa Fald is sister to Chrysodinopsis sp. This study provides new molecular data for the further taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of the Chrysomelidae of Coleoptera.

Whole Genome Sequencing of the Braconid Parasitoid Wasp Fopius arisanus, an Important Biocontrol Agent of Pest Tepritid Fruit Flies.

The braconid wasp Fopius arisanus (Sonan) is an important biological control agent of tropical and subtropical pest fruit flies, including two important global pests, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), and the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis). The goal of this study was to develop foundational genomic resources for this species to provide tools that can be used to answer questions exploring the multitrophic interactions between the host and parasitoid in this important research system. Here, we present a whole genome assembly of F. arisanus, derived from a pool of haploid offspring from a single unmated female. The genome is ∼154 Mb in size, with a N50 contig and scaffold size of 51,867 bp and 0.98 Mb, respectively. Utilizing existing RNA-Seq data for this species, as well as publicly available peptide sequences from related Hymenoptera, a high quality gene annotation set, which includes 10,991 protein coding genes, was generated. Prior to this assembly submission, no RefSeq proteins were present for this species. Parasitic wasps play an important role in a diverse ecosystem as well as a role in biological control of agricultural pests. This whole genome assembly and annotation data represents the first genome-scale assembly for this species or any closely related Opiine, and are publicly available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Genome and RefSeq databases, providing a much needed genomic resource for this hymenopteran group.

Transcriptome of the egg parasitoid Fopius arisanus: an important biocontrol tool for Tephritid fruit fly suppression.

BACKGROUND: The Braconid wasp Fopius arisanus (Sonan) has been utilized for biological control of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), and the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), both of which are phytophagous fruit fly pests of economic importance in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. We have sequenced and assembled the transcriptome of this wasp using tissue from four different life stages: larvae, pupae, adult males and adult females, with the aim to contribute foundational resources to aid in the understanding of the biology and behavior of this important parasitoid. FINDINGS: The transcriptome of the parasitic wasp Fopius arisanus was sequenced and reconstructed using a strategy that identified 15,346 high confidence, non-redundant transcripts derived from 8,307 predicted unigenes. In addition, Pfam domain annotations were detected in 78 % of these transcripts. The distribution of transcript length is comparable to that found in other hymenoptera genomes. Through orthology analysis, 7,154 transcripts were identified as having orthologs in at least one of the four other hymenopteran parasitoid species examined. Approximately 4,000 core orthologs were found to be shared between F. arisanus and all four of the other parasitoids. CONCLUSIONS: Availability of high quality genomic data is fundamental for the improvement and advancement of research in any biological organism. Parasitic wasps are important in the biological control of agricultural pests. The transcriptome data presented here represent the first large-scale molecular resource for this species, or any closely related Opiine species. The assembly is available in NCBI for use by the scientific community, with supporting data available in GigaDB.

A qPCR-based method for detecting parasitism of Fopius arisanus (Sonan) in oriental fruit flies, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

BACKGROUND: Parasitism detection and species identification are necessary in fruit fly biological control. Currently, release of mass-reared Fopius arisanus is practiced worldwide, as it is effective in controlling Bactrocera dorsalis and Ceratitis capitata. To detect and assess parasitism in parasitoid mass-rearing colonies and parasitism levels in field populations across all life stages of hosts, the development of a rapid, specific and sensitive method is important. RESULTS: A species-specific probe was designed for F. arisanus, as well as a universal tephritid probe. Utilizing rapid DNA extraction techniques coupled with quantitative-PCR, a simple and fast assay has been developed to detect parasitism of F. arisanus that is sensitive enough to detect the parasitoid across all developmental stages, including a single egg per host egg or 0.25 ng of parasitoid DNA in 40 ng of host DNA. The qPCR methods also detect a higher parasitism rate when compared with rearing-based methods where parasitism rate is based on wasp emergence and where unemerged wasps are not included. CONCLUSION: This method is a rapid, sensitive and specific technique to determine the parasitism rate of F. arisanus across all life stages of B. dorsalis, which will be useful to predict parasitoid output from mass rearing and evaluate the outcome of pest suppression after mass release in the field.