Parasitic Wasps Decoded

We are all familiar with wasps and fear their painful sting. Bugs have more to fear from the sting of a wasp than we do. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in other insects bodies. The eggs hatch, and the larva feed on the host insect eating it from the inside out. Often the unfortunate bug that has the babies wasps inside die. After feeding the young wasps mature to adulthood, break through the exoskeleton of the host, fly off, mate and continue the cycle.

Agriculturalists have found parasitic wasps useful in getting certain pests out of their fields. Wasps that lay their eggs in other insects generally target certain species, so it is important to understand the relationship to best utilize wasps as pest control.

Scientists with the Nasonia Genome Working Group have decoded the DNA of three species of parasitic wasps in the genus Nasonia. These species are closely related. That means the DNA can be used to understand evolutionary differences between the wasps and how the differences came about. This information will be useful to Agronomists trying to make better use of parasitic wasps as well as geneticists trying to understand the mechanisms that factor into evolution.

Click here to read the research abstract.

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