Maintenance of Specialized Parasitoid Populations by Polydnaviruses

Abstract:

This chapter discusses how polydnaviruses are linked to the process of specialization in braconid and ichneumonid wasps and are hence very good markers of wasp specialization. It also reviews how they are involved in host adaptation and specialization. The parasitoid lifestyle requires an intense specialization at different steps of the life-cycle. As a consequence, most parasitic wasps are specialized and can successfully parasitize very few host species. This host specificity makes them one of the most used biological control agents against insect pests. Unraveling specialization and defining host range within a species or among morphologically identical species might be problematic without the use of molecular markers. Expanding the host range of a given parasitoid increases the cost. From the host's point of view, the cost of developing defense mechanisms could be higher than the cost of parasitism and more specialized parasitoids take advantage of that situation. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Año de publicación:

2012

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus