Project name: Nasonia giraulti

Description: The Nasonia genus includes three closely related species of wasps that parasitize various blowfly species. Nasonia giraulti occurs in eastern North America, and is estimated to have diverged from N. longicornis approximately 0.4 Mya and from N. vitripennis approximately 1.0 Mya. The three species are normally genetically isolated from each other owing to Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility, but laboratory strains cured of Wolbachia are interfertile providing a useful source of genetic and sequence variation for mapping studies. Consequently, Nasonia serves as a useful model system, particularly for the study of the genetics of complex traits and for comparative developmental genetics.

Last updated: 2007-08-07