Parasitoid Viruses

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. As resistance to chemical pesticides continues to escalate in many pest populations, attention is now refocusing on biologically-based strategies to control pest species in agriculture and forestry as well as insect vector populations that transmit human and animal diseases. Parasitoids are an economically critical element in this equation and '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) that 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.

Parasitoid Virus Symbionts and Venoms

Jean-Michel and Nancy Beckage, editors

The Discovery of the Polydnaviruses and the Influence of Dr. George Salt

S. Bradleigh Vinson

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

Peter J. Krell and Don B. Stoltz

2. Evolutionary Progenitors of Bracoviruses

Jean-Michel Drezen, Elisabeth Herniou, and Annie Bézier

3. The Organization of Genes Encoding Ichnovirus Structural Proteins

Anne-Nathalie Volkoff, Jean-Michel Drezen, Michel Cusson and Bruce A. Webb

4. Genomics and Replication of Polydnaviruses

Catherine Dupuy, Dawn Gundersen-Rindal, and Michel Cusson

5. Evolution and origin of polydnavirus virulence genes

Elisabeth Huguet, Céline Serbielle and Sébastien JM Moreau

6. Genomics of banchine ichnoviruses: insights into their relationship to bracoviruses and campoplegine ichnoviruses

Michel Cusson, Don Stoltz, Renée Lapointe, Catherine Béliveau, Audrey Nisole, A.-Nathalie Volkoff, Jean-Michel Drezen, Halim Maaroufi, Roger C. Levesque

7. Molecular Systematics of Wasp and Polydnavirus Genomes and their Co-evolution

James Whitfield and Jaqueline M. O'Connor

8. Integration of Polydnavirus DNA into Host Cellular Genomic DNA

Dawn Gundersen-Rindal

9. Unusual Viral Genomes: Mimivirus and the Polydnaviruses

Christopher A. Desjardins

10. Maintenance of Specialized Parasitoid Populations by Polydnaviruses

Antoine Branca, Catherine Gitau, and Stéphane Dupas

PART II: THE BIOLOGICAL ROLES OF POLYDNAVIRUS GENE PRODUCTS

11. Polydnavirus Gene Expression Profiling: What We Know Now

Michael R. Strand

12. Polydnavirus Gene Products That Interact with the Host Immune System

Michael R. Strand

13. Polydnaviruses as Endocrine Regulators

Nancy Beckage

14. The Orchestrated Manipulation of the Host by Chelonus inanitus and its Polydnavirus

Beatrice Lanzrein, Rita Pfister-Wilhelm, Martha Kaeslin, Gabriela Wespi and Thomas Roth

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 ?

Jean-luc Gatti, Antonin Schmitz, Dominique Colinet, Marylène Poirié

16. RNA viruses in parasitoid wasps

Sylvaine Renault

17. An Inherited Virus Manipulating the Behaviour of Its Parasitoid Host: Epidemiology and Evolutionary Consequences

Julien Varaldi, Julien Martinez, Sabine Patot, David Lepetit, Frédéric Fleury, and Sylvain Gandon

SECTION 3: VENOMS OF PARASITOIDS

18. Venoms from Endoparasitoids

Sassan Asgari

19. Proteomics of the Venom of the Parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis

Ellen M. Formesyn, Ellen L. Danneels and Dirk C. de Graaf

20. Aphid Parasitoid Venom and Its Role in Host Regulation

Francesco Pennacchio and Donato Mancini

21. When Parasitoids Lack Polydnaviruses, Can Venoms Subdue the Hosts ? The Study Case of Asobara Species

Geneviève Prevost, Patrice Eslin, Anas Cherqui, Sébastien Moreau, Géraldine Doury

SECTION 4: FUTURISTIC VISIONS

22. Applications of Parasitoid Virus and Venom Research in Agriculture

Francesco Pennacchio, Barbara Giordana, Rosa Rao

EPILOGUE: The Legacy of George Salt, Pioneer in Parasitoid Virology, and Prospects for the Future of Parasitoid Polydnavirus and Venom Research. (Jean-Michel Drezen and Nancy Beckage )