Entomology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Entomology, including details on insects, parasites, diseases.

Complementary sex determination in the parasitoid wasp Cotesia vestalis (C. plutellae).

DE Boer JG, Ode PJ, Vet LE, Whitfield J, Heimpel GE

Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA.

In the Hymenoptera, single locus complementary sex determination (sl-CSD) describes a system where males develop either from unfertilized haploid eggs or from fertilized diploid eggs that are homozygous at a single polymorphic sex locus. Diploid males are often inviable or sterile, and are produced more frequently under inbreeding. Within families where sl-CSD has been demonstrated, we predict that sl-CSD should be more likely in species with solitary development than in species where siblings develop gregariously (and likely inbreed). We examine this prediction in the parasitoid wasp genus Cotesia, which contains both solitary and gregarious species. Previous studies have shown that sl-CSD is absent in two gregarious species of Cotesia, but present in one gregarious species. Here, we demonstrate CSD in the solitary Cotesia vestalis, using microsatellite markers. Diploid sons are produced by inbred, but not outbred, females. However, frequencies of diploid males were lower than expected under sl-CSD, suggesting that CSD in C. vestalis involves more than one locus.

Published 9 January 2007 in J Evol Biol, 20(1): 340-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2011 Entomology Research Today. All Rights Reserved.