Nasonia and Muscidifurax are both 2-3 mm long parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in the pupae of a fly. Both genera belong to the sub-family Pteromalinae (Figure 1) and, as can be seen in the pictures below, the two genera are morphologically very similar. All parasitic wasps are in the order of the Hymenoptera comprising also the ants, bees and sawflies. One specific characteristic of the Hymenoptera is haplodiploidy. This means that the females are diploid and thus have two chromosome sets (just as humans), and males are haploid with only one chromosome set (see Figure 2). A virgin female (unmated) can produce only unfertilized haploid eggs that will develop into males, but if she has mated with one or more males, she can produce still haploid eggs (males) but also diploid fertilized eggs that will develop into females.
Nasonia is widely used as a model-organism because it is easy to rear and use in the lab. In 2010 the genome sequences of three Nasonia species were published in Science. In addition many molecular and genomic tools have become available in the past years, such as RNA interference, expression array data, SNP chips and QTL analyses. In the paragraph below more in depth information can be found on Nasonia vitripennis and a lot of information on the Nasonia genus is also available on the WerrenLab website. Less research has been done involving the Muscidifurax genus. The species M. raptorellus has primarily been used in biological pest control. More information on the Muscidifurax genus can be found in its subsection soon. |
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