Development of a Nasonia vitripennis outbred laboratory population for genetic analysis.
The parasitoid wasp genus Nasonia has rapidly become a genetic model system for developmental and evolutionary biology. The release of its genome sequence led to the development of high-resolution genomic tools, for both interspecific and intraspecific research, which has resulted in great advances in understanding Nasonia biology. To further advance the utility of Nasonia vitripennis as a genetic model system and to be able to fully exploit the advantages of its fully sequenced and annotated genome, we developed a genetically variable and well-characterized experimental population. In this study, we describe the establishment of the genetically diverse HVRx laboratory population from strains collected from the field in the Netherlands. We established a maintenance method that retains genetic variation over generations of culturing in the laboratory. As a characterization of its genetic composition, we provide data on the standing genetic variation and estimate the effective population size (N(e)) by microsatellite analysis. A genome-wide description of polymorphism is provided through pooled resequencing, which yielded 417,331 high-quality SNPs spanning all five Nasonia chromosomes. The HVRx population and its characterization are freely available as a community resource for investigators seeking to elucidate the genetic basis of complex trait variation using the Nasonia model system.
Evolutionary Genetics, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9700 CC, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Louis
L
van de Zande
Steven
S
Ferber
Ammerins
A
de Haan
Leo W
LW
Beukeboom
Joost
J
van Heerwaarden
Bart A
BA
Pannebakker
D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D021461:Animals, Outbred Strains; D001947:Breeding; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D008297:Male; D014863:Wasps / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
effective population size; genetic variation; laboratory strain; parasitoid wasp; pooled resequencing; single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)