scholarly journals Long-Read Assembly and Annotation of the Parasitoid Wasp Muscidifurax raptorellus, a Biological Control Agent for Filth Flies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Xiong ◽  
Yogeshwar D Kelkar ◽  
Chris J Geden ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Yidong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control Agent ◽  
Nuclear Genome ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
House Fly ◽  
Reproductive Capacity ◽  
Stable Fly ◽  
Biological Pest Control ◽  
Genome Coverage ◽  
Filth Flies ◽  
Long Read

The parasitoid wasp Muscidifurax raptorellus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a gregarious species that has received extensive attention for its potential in biological pest control against house fly, stable fly, and other filth flies. It has a high reproductive capacity and can be reared easily. However, genome assembly is not available for M. raptorellus or any other species in this genus. Previously, we assembled a complete circular mitochondrial genome with a length of 24,717 bp. Here, we assembled and annotated a high-quality nuclear genome of M. raptorellus, using a combination of long-read (104× genome coverage) and short-read (326× genome coverage) sequencing technologies. The assembled genome size is 314 Mbp in 226 contigs, with a 97.9% BUSCO completeness score and a contig N50 of 4.67 Mb, suggesting excellent continuity of this assembly. Our assembly builds the foundation for comparative and evolutionary genomic analysis in the genus of Muscidifurax and possible future biocontrol applications.

Biological control of house flies Musca domestica and stable flies Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae) by means of inundative releases of Spalangia cameroni (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 555-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Skovgård ◽  
G. Nachman
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Musca Domestica ◽  
Biological Control Agent ◽  
Control Agent ◽  
House Fly ◽  
Stomoxys Calcitrans ◽  
Stable Fly ◽  
House Flies ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Stable Flies

AbstractThe efficacy of the pupal parasitoid Spalangia cameroni Perkins as a biological control agent was tested against house flies Musca domestica Linnaeus and stable flies Stomoxys calcitrans (Linnaeus) in one dairy cattle and two pig installations in Denmark. Weekly releases of S. cameroni from April through to September–October 1999 and 2000 resulted in significant suppressions of house fly populations to below nuisance level, whereas no effect on stable flies was found. Parasitism was significantly higher in the release years compared to the control years, but was below 25% averaged over the fly season for each farm. A statistical model based on a functional relationship between the innate capacity of increase of the two fly species and three explanatory variables (air temperature, fly density and parasitism) provided a fairly good fit to data with the abundances of house flies and stable flies explained mostly by temperature, but intra- and interspecific competition, and parasitism had a significant effect as well. Overall, the model was capable of explaining 14% and 6.6% of the total variation in data for house fly and stable fly, respectively. Spalangia cameroni was the predominant parasitoid to emerge from exposed house fly pupae, but from mid summer onwards Muscidifurax raptor Girault & Sanders (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) was also quite common. The study indicated that biological control of house flies can be an efficient alternative to chemical control.

Semi‐field evaluation of the predation of Macrocheles embersoni and Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Acari: Mesostigmata: Macrochelidae) on the house fly and the stable fly (Diptera: Muscidae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letícia Henrique Azevedo ◽  
Vinícius Borges ◽  
Walter Mesquita Filho ◽  
Raphael de Campos Castilho ◽  
Gilberto José Moraes
Keyword(s):  
Field Evaluation ◽  
House Fly ◽  
Stable Fly

scholarly journals Improved Genome Assembly and Annotation of the Soybean Aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 899-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Mathers
Keyword(s):  
Genome Assembly ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Single Copy ◽  
Aphid Species ◽  
Soybean Aphid ◽  
Aphis Glycines ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Conserved Genes ◽  
Long Read

Aphids are an economically important insect group due to their role as plant disease vectors. Despite this economic impact, genomic resources have only been generated for a small number of aphid species. The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) was the third aphid species to have its genome sequenced and the first to use long-read sequence data. However, version 1 of the soybean aphid genome assembly has low contiguity (contig N50 = 57 Kb, scaffold N50 = 174 Kb), poor representation of conserved genes and the presence of genomic scaffolds likely derived from parasitoid wasp contamination. Here, I use recently developed methods to reassemble the soybean aphid genome. The version 2 genome assembly is highly contiguous, containing half of the genome in only 40 scaffolds (contig N50 = 2.00 Mb, scaffold N50 = 2.51 Mb) and contains 11% more conserved single-copy arthropod genes than version 1. To demonstrate the utility of this improved assembly, I identify a region of conserved synteny between aphids and Drosophila containing members of the Osiris gene family that was split over multiple scaffolds in the original assembly. The improved genome assembly and annotation of A. glycines demonstrates the benefit of applying new methods to old data sets and will provide a useful resource for future comparative genome analysis of aphids.

scholarly journals Aphid Honeydew Enhances Parasitoid Longevity to the Same Extent as a High-Quality Floral Resource: Implications for Conservation Biological Control of the Wheat Stem Sawfly (Hymenoptera: Cephidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 2022-2025
Author(s):  
Tatyana A Rand ◽  
Debra K Waters
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Cover Crop ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Biological Control Agent ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Cereal Aphid ◽  
Crop Species ◽  
Wheat Stem Sawfly ◽  
Aphid Honeydew

Abstract Providing sugar resources for parasitoids is an important component of habitat management approaches to bolster biological control. We screened three flowering cover crop species, and one aphid species, for their potential to increase the longevity of the parasitoid wasp, Bracon cephi (Gahan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an important biological control agent of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae). We found that buckwheat and honeydew from the cereal aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), increased longevity of B. cephi females by over threefold, while longevity on sunflower and coriander was not significantly different from controls on wheat. The results suggest that incorporating buckwheat into cover crop mixes could enhance parasitoid performance. However, the finding that honeydew associated with a common aphid in wheat provides a suitable resource suggests that a better understanding of the varying quality, and spatial and temporal availability, of aphid honeydew will be a critical consideration in evaluating the potential benefits of managing floral resources for parasitoid conservation in this system.

Bottom-up Effects on Tri-trophic Interactions: Plant Fertilization Enhances the Fitness of a Primary Parasitoid Mediated by Its Herbivore Host

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (6) ◽  
pp. 2619-2626
Author(s):  
Apostolos Pekas ◽  
Felix L Wäckers
Keyword(s):  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Nitrogen Concentration ◽  
Mass Rearing ◽  
Reproductive Capacity ◽  
Biological Pest Control ◽  
Tobacco Plants ◽  
Primary And Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Food Quantity ◽  
Nitrogen Treatment ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Plants play a pivotal role in interactions involving herbivores and their natural enemies. Variation in plant primary and secondary metabolites not only affects herbivores but, directly and indirectly, also their natural enemies. Here, we used a commercial NPK fertilizer to test the impact of three fertilizer, namely 50, 100, and 200 ppm nitrogen, and one control (i.e., water) treatments, on the weight of the nymphs of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Subsequently, the whitefly parasitoid Eretmocerus mundus Mercet (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) was reared on the different groups of whitefly nymphs and upon parasitoid emergence, the number of oocytes was determined as a measure of reproductive capacity. Trials were done on tomato and tobacco plants. The level of nitrogen concentration in tobacco leaves was directly correlated with the fertilizer applications, thus confirming the effect of our fertilizer treatments. Both in tomato and tobacco plants, healthy as well as parasitized whitefly nymphs, were heaviest in the 200 ppm nitrogen treatment. The highest number of oocytes per female parasitoid was recorded in the 200 ppm nitrogen treatment in tomato (31% more oocytes as compared with the control) and in the 100 and 200 ppm nitrogen treatments in tobacco (200% more oocytes). We suggest that the increase in oocytes was the result of the enhanced size (food quantity) and/or nutritional quality of the whitefly host. The practical implications of these results for the mass rearing of whitefly parasitoids and for biological pest control are discussed.

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