Understanding methylation in a simple
creature - such as the Nasonia wasp -
could help human research.
Image: Michael Clark

A new genetic map of parasitic wasp species could open up avenues for insect pest control and reduce reliance on chemical pesticides.

Three wasp species from the genus Nasonia have been genetically sequenced by an international team including researchers from the Australian National University. Their results are published in the journal Science today.

Nasonia wasps paralyse and then lay their young on or in the bodies of various insects, including agricultural pests like blowflies. The young wasps then eat the paralysed bug, helping to keep a lid on insect population levels.

Now researchers have identified some of the key factors that make Nasonia vitripennis, N. giraulti and N. longicornis wasps such effective pest controllers, including the gene that tells the wasps which insects to attack. They’ve also learned more about the wasps’ digestive needs, potentially aiding in the process of large-scale rearing of the insects.

Dr Robert Kucharski and Professor Ryszard Maleszka from the Research School of Biology at ANU contributed work on genes coding for a DNA methylation toolkit and an important gene family encoding Yellow-like proteins.

“This is the first time that DNA methylation has been shown to work in a non-social insect,” Professor Maleszka says. “This is where environmental factors alter gene activity without affecting the DNA. By understanding more about how methylation works in a relatively simple creature like Nasonia wasps, we can learn more about how it works in humans, where the process is turning out to be important in a range of conditions such as cancer, obesity and mental illness.”

Professor Maleszka says that the new research shows that the Nasonia genome contains the surprisingly large number of 26 genes encoding Yellow-like proteins, which are believed to play important roles in development, immunity and other cellular processes. Yellow-like proteins also work in bees to determine caste.

“Some of the lessons we’re learning from the Nasonia genome sequencing could help us utilise these kinds of wasps for controlling pest insects, but the information is also helping us learn more about fundamental genetic processes that wasps, humans and other life forms share.”

The Nasonia wasp genome sequencing project was led by researchers at the University of Rochester and the Baylor College of Medicine in the US.