An official website of the United States government.

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites always use a .gov or .mil domain. Before sharing sensitive information online, make sure you’re on a .gov or .mil site by inspecting your browser’s address (or “location”) bar.

This site is also protected by an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that’s been signed by the U.S. government. The https:// means all transmitted data is encrypted — in other words, any information or browsing history that you provide is transmitted securely.

Microplitis demolitor

Summary
Resource Type
Organism
Genus
Microplitis
Species
demolitor
Description

Microplitis demolitor is a parasitoid wasp in the hymenopteran family Braconidae. It is native to eastern Australia but has been introduced into the United States as a biological control agent [1]. M. demolitor parasitizes several species of Lepidoptera that are important agricultural pests including Helicoverpa punctigera, H. armigera, and Chrysodeixis includens [1,2]. Female M. demolitor parasitize the larval stage of host species by laying one or more eggs into the body cavity (hemocoel). After hatching, wasp larvae develop by primarily feeding on blood. Usually a single mature wasp larva emerges from the host in 7-8 days to spin a cocoon and pupate followed by emergence of an adult wasp several days later.

Like most Hymenoptera, M. demolitor is haplo-diploid with unfertilized eggs developing into males and fertilized eggs developing into females [3]. M. demolitor also belongs to a complex in the family Braconidae that carry symbiotic viruses in the genus Bracovirus [4]. M. demolitor bracovirus (MdBV) persists as a provirus in every individual while replicating specifically in females. Female M. demolitor inject MdBV into hosts when laying eggs. The virus thereafter infects different cells of the host larva and expresses genes that the wasp offspring rely upon for successful development [5].

References cited

  1. Shepard, M., Powell, J. E., Jones, W.E. Jr. 1983. Biology of Microplitis demolitor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an imported parasitoid of Heliothis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) spp. and the soybean looper, Pseudoplusia includens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Environ. Entomol. 12, 641-645.
  2. Microplitis demolitor and ascovirus: Important natural enemies of Helicoverpa. 2005. Queensland (Australia) Government Bulletin. ISSN 0727-6273 QI04079 (https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/.../Insects-Microplitis-ascovirus.pdf).
  3. Strand, M.R., Johnson, J.A., Culin, J.D., 1988. Developmental Interactions between the Parasitoid Microplitis demolitor (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) and Its Host Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 81, 822-830.
  4. Burke GR, Walden KK, Whitfield JB, Robertson HM, Strand MR. Widespread genome reorganization of an obligate virus mutualist. PLoS genetics. 2014 Sep 10-9:e1004660.
  5. Strand MR, Burke GR. Polydnaviruses: Natures Genetic Engineers. Annual review of virology. 2014 Nov 1-1:333-54.

Genome update. Previously, the i5k Workspace@NAL hosted Microplitis demolitor genome assembly Mdem2 (GCF_000572035.2) and NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release 101. The assembly and annotations have been updated to the most recent Ag100Pest assembly, iyMicDemo2.1a (GCF_026212275.2) (https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/datasets/genome/GCF_026212275.2/), and annotations, NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release GCF_026212275.2-RS_2023_02 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/annotation_euk/Microplitis_demolitor/GCF_026212275.2-RS_2023_02/).

This genome project is part of the Ag100Pest project (http://i5k.github.io/ag100pest)

Publication
  1. Burke GR, Walden KK, Whitfield JB, Robertson HM, Strand MR. Widespread genome reorganization of an obligate virus mutualist.. PLoS genetics. 2014 Sep; 10(9):e1004660.
  2. Strand MR, Burke GR. Polydnaviruses: Nature's Genetic Engineers.. Annual review of virology. 2014 Nov; 1(1):333-54.
Organism Image
Image Credit
Copyright J.A. Johnson
Analysis
NameProgramDate Constructed
Microplitis demolitor genome assembly Mdem2 (GCF_000572035.2)SOAPdenovoDec 2nd, 2013
NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release 101NCBI Eukaryotic Genome Annotation PipelineOct 19th, 2015
Microplitis demolitor bracovirus DNAbwaMar 2nd, 2018
Microplitis demolitor ovary DNAbwaMar 2nd, 2018
Infected Chrysodeixis includens hemocyteshisat2Mar 11th, 2018
Infected Trichoplusia nihisat2Mar 11th, 2018
Infected Chrysodeixis includenshisat2Mar 11th, 2018
Microplitis demolitor Official Gene Set micdem_OGSv1.0i5k Workspace OGS generation pipelineMar 2nd, 2021
Functional annotation of NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release 101AgBase functional annotation pipelineApr 22nd, 2022
Microplitis demolitor genome assembly iyMicDemo2.1a (GCF_026212275.2)HiFiASMFeb 13th, 2023
NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release GCF_026212275.2-RS_2023_02NCBI Eukaryotic Genome Annotation PipelineFeb 16th, 2023
Functional annotation of NCBI Microplitis demolitor Annotation Release GCF_026212275.2-RS_2023_02AgBase functional annotation pipelineJun 16th, 2023
Assembly Stats
Contig N50
NA
Scaffold N50
1139389
GC Content
31.50
Other Information
Community Contact
i5k Workspace@NAL
Links