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Parasitoids are parasitic insects that kill their insect hosts in immature pre-reproductive stages. Parasitoids are employed in biological control programs worldwide to kill insect pests and are environmentally safe and benign alternatives to chemical pesticides. They are an economically critical element in integrated pest management.
Viruses have evolved intimate associations with parasitoids, and this book features sections on both symbiotic viruses that are integrated into the wasp's chromosomal DNA (polydnaviruses) - these play critical roles in suppressing host immunity during parasitism. A separate section with additional chapters on viral pathogens that infect parasitoids to cause disease and act as detrimental agents that limit effectiveness of wasp species employed in biological control of pests is also featured. A third component is a section on parasitoid venoms, which are of interest to the pharmaceutical and medical communities as well as insect-oriented biologists.
Sections focus on both virus evolution and genomics as well as proteomics and functional roles of polydnavirus-encoded gene products, synthesizing the considerable progress made in polydnavirus genomics in the past five years.
SECTION 1: PARASITOID POLYDNAVIRUSES: EVOLUTION, GENOMICS, AND SYSTEMATICS
PART I: INSIGHTS INTO POLYDNAVIRUS EVOLUTION AND GENOMICS
1. The Origins and Early History of Polydnavirus Research
2. Evolutionary Progenitors of Bracoviruses
3. The Organization of Genes Encoding Ichnovirus Structural Proteins
4. Genomics and Replication of Polydnaviruses
5. Evolution and origin of polydnavirus virulence genes
6. Genomics of banchine ichnoviruses: insights into their relationship to bracoviruses and campoplegine ichnoviruses
7. Molecular Systematics of Wasp and Polydnavirus Genomes and their Co-evolution
8. Integration of Polydnavirus DNA into Host Cellular Genomic DNA
9. Unusual Viral Genomes: Mimivirus and the Polydnaviruses
10. Maintenance of Specialized Parasitoid Populations by Polydnaviruses
PART II: THE BIOLOGICAL ROLES OF POLYDNAVIRUS GENE PRODUCTS
11. Polydnavirus Gene Expression Profiling: What We Know Now
12. Polydnavirus Gene Products That Interact with the Host Immune System
13. Polydnaviruses as Endocrine Regulators
14. The Orchestrated Manipulation of the Host by Chelonus inanitus and its Polydnavirus
SECTION 2: UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES OF VIRUSES AND VIRUS-LIKE PARTICLES ASSOCIATED WITH PARASITOIDS
15. Diversity of Virus-Like Particles in Parasitoids' Venom : Viral or Cellular Origin ?
16. RNA viruses in parasitoid wasps
17. An Inherited Virus Manipulating the Behaviour of Its Parasitoid Host: Epidemiology and Evolutionary Consequences
SECTION 3: VENOMS OF PARASITOIDS
18. Venoms from Endoparasitoids
19. Proteomics of the Venom of the Parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis
20. Aphid Parasitoid Venom and Its Role in Host Regulation
21. When Parasitoids Lack Polydnaviruses, Can Venoms Subdue the Hosts ? The Study Case of Asobara Species
SECTION 4: FUTURISTIC VISIONS
22. Applications of Parasitoid Virus and Venom Research in Agriculture
EPILOGUE: The Legacy of George Salt, Pioneer in Parasitoid Virology, and Prospects for the Future of Parasitoid Polydnavirus and Venom Research
