Meeting Abstract
The success of a parasite depends on its ability to suppress or evade the immune system of the host. Parasitic wasps, which lay their eggs in the body cavities of host insects, inject venom proteins to modulate the host immune response. Previous research indicates that the venom proteins injected by different wasp species vary in their effects on the host immune system such that even closely related wasp species use divergent strategies to achieve successful infection. To investigate the evolution of immune evasion/suppression strategies in parasitic wasps, we conducted an RNA-Seq experiment with wasp-infected Drosophila melanogaster. D. melanogaster is an ideal host for studying virulence evolution because it is parasitized by several wasp species in nature, is a model system for the study if innate immunity, and has a well-characterized transcriptome. We infected D. melanogaster individuals with one of ten different wasp strains, and examined the transcriptional response to each infection over time. We found that wasp strain had a significant effect on the number and identity of genes differentially expressed between infected and control D. melanogaster individuals. We discuss connections between wasp host specialization, venom composition, and venom effects on host transcription, as well as the importance of phylogenetic relatedness among wasp strains.
