The jewel wasp Nasonia: Querying the genome with haplo-diploid genetics

The jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis is considered the “Drosophila melanogaster of the Hymenoptera.” This diminutive wasp offers insect geneticists a means for applying haplo‐diploid genetics to the analysis of developmental processes. As in bees, haploid males develop from unfertilized eggs, while di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) N.Y. : 2000), 2003-03, Vol.35 (3), p.185-191
Main Authors: Pultz, Mary Anne, Leaf, David S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Diploidy
evolution of development
Genome
haplo-diploid
Haploidy
Hymenoptera
Nasonia
Phylogeny
Sex Determination Processes
Time Factors
Wasps - embryology
Wasps - genetics
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Summary:The jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis is considered the “Drosophila melanogaster of the Hymenoptera.” This diminutive wasp offers insect geneticists a means for applying haplo‐diploid genetics to the analysis of developmental processes. As in bees, haploid males develop from unfertilized eggs, while diploid females develop from fertilized eggs. Nasonia's advantageous combination of haplo‐diploid genetics and ease of handling in the laboratory facilitates screening the entire genome for recessive mutations affecting a developmental process of interest. This approach is currently directed toward understanding the evolution of embryonic pattern formation by comparing Nasonia embryogenesis to that of Drosophila. Haplo‐diploid genetics also facilitates developing molecular maps and mapping polygenic traits. Moreover, Nasonia embryos are also proving amenable to cell biological analysis. These capabilities are being exploited to understand a variety of behavioral, developmental, and evolutionary processes, ranging from cytoplasmic incompatibility to the evolution of wing morphology. genesis 35:185–191, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ISSN:1526-954X
1526-968X
DOI:10.1002/gene.10189