title: Polydnaviruses of braconid wasps derive from an ancestral nudivirus.
abstract: Many species of parasitoid wasps inject polydnavirus particles in order to manipulate host defenses and development. Because the DNA packaged in these particles encodes almost no viral structural proteins, their relation to viruses has been debated. Characterization of complementary DNAs derived from braconid wasp ovaries identified genes encoding subunits of a viral RNA polymerase and structural components of polydnavirus particles related most closely to those of nudiviruses--a sister group of baculoviruses. The conservation of this viral machinery in different braconid wasp lineages sharing polydnaviruses suggests that parasitoid wasps incorporated a nudivirus-related genome into their own genetic material. We found that the nudiviral genes themselves are no longer packaged but are actively transcribed and produce particles used to deliver genes essential for successful parasitism in lepidopteran hosts.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, CNRS UMR 6035, Université François Rabelais, Parc de Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bézier
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Annaheim
authors.forename: Juline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herbinière
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wetterwald
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gyapay
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernard-Samain
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wincker
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roditi
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Belghazi
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pfister-Wilhem
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Periquet
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dupuy
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Huguet
authors.forename: Anne-Nathalie
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Volkoff
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lanzrein
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Drezen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005260:Female; D049750:Genome, Insect; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010053:Ovary / Q000821:virology; D018071:Polydnaviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014771:Virion / Q000235:genetics; D016662:Virus Integration; D014863:Wasps / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins