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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #338745

Research Project: Detection, Control and Area-wide Management of Fruit Flies and Other Quarantine Pests of Tropical/Subtropical Crops

Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research

Title: Whole genome sequencing of the Braconid parasitoid wasp Fopius arisanus, an important biocontrol agent of pest Tepritid fruit flies

Author
item Geib, Scott
item GUANG HONG, LIANG - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item Sim, Sheina
item MURPHY, TERENCE - National Center For Biotechnology Information (NCBI)

Submitted to: G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2017
Publication Date: 6/15/2017
Citation: Geib, S.M., Guang Hong, L., Sim, S.B., Murphy, T. 2017. Whole genome sequencing of the Braconid parasitoid wasp Fopius arisanus, an important biocontrol agent of pest Tepritid fruit flies. G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics. doi:10.1534/g3.117.040741.

Interpretive Summary: This manuscript presents a genome assembly and annotation set for the important biocontrol species, Fopius arisanus. This species is a braconid wasp which is used throughout the world to suppress populations of pest tephritid fruit fly species including the oriental fruit fly and Mediterranean fruit fly. The genome assembly was from a group of sibling haploid males, which reduced the complexity of the assembly and yielded a high quality draft genome. This assembly and associated annotation data is publically available in NCBI as well as curated within the USDA-ARS NAL i5k workspace. The availability of genome resources for this species will open up new research opportunities in exploring host-parasitoid interactions and better understanding host preference at a genetic level. In addition, viruses associated with this species that are used to overcome host defenses can be explored.

Technical Abstract: The braconid wasp Fopius arisanus (Sonan) is an important biological control agent of tropical and subtropical pest fruit flies including two important global pests, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), and the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis}). The goal of this study was to develop foundational genomic resources for this species to provide tools that can be used to answer questions exploring the multitrophic interactions between the host and parasitoid in this important research system. Here we present the a whole genome assembly of F.arisanus, derived from pooled haploid offspring from a single unmated female. The genome is approximately 154 Mb in size, with a N50 contig and scaffold size of 51,867 bp and 0.98 Mb, respectively. Utilizing existing RNA-Seq data for this species, as well as publicly available peptide sequences from related hymenopterans, a high quality gene annotation set, which includes 10,991 protein coding genes, was generated. Prior to this assembly submission, no RefSeq proteins were present for this species. Parasitic wasps play an important role in a diverse ecosystem as well as a role in biological control of agricultural pests. This whole genome assembly and annotation data represents the first genome-scale assembly for this species or any closely related Opiine, and are publicly available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Genome and RefSeq databases, providing a much needed genomic resource for this hymenopteran group.