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Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad PBT: Physiology, Molecular and Cellular Biology On-Demand Presentations

Regulation of Gene Expression by a Viral RNA Polymerase in the Parasitoid, Microplitis demolitor

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Kelly M. Tims

    Graduate Student Research Assistant
    University of Georgia
    Athens, Georgia

    • Co-Author(s)

  • GB

    Gaelen R. Burke

    Associate Professor
    University of Georgia
    Athens, Georgia


The parasitoid wasp, Microplitis demolitor, has a unique life cycle of depositing eggs and viral particles into a larval host before consuming the host and pupating. To combat the host’s immune response, the wasp produces Bracovirus in its ovaries. The M. demolitor genome contains virus-derived genes, some of which are expressed in early wasp ovary development and are responsible for encoding a viral RNA polymerase, including subunits encoded by lef-4 and lef-9. In baculoviruses, the viral RNA polymerase specifically transcribes “late” genes, which are expressed after “early” genes and encode structural virus proteins. It is hypothesized that the viral RNA polymerase function is conserved in bracoviruses and involved in transcription of late genes. Previous support for this hypothesis was provided by quantitative PCR, demonstrating that RNAi knockdowns of lef-4 and lef-9 genes reduced transcription of two late genes in M. demolitor. The objective of this study is to characterize genes transcribed by viral RNA polymerase through RNA-Seq analysis of datasets generated from normal adult ovaries when compared to lef-4 knockdowns. Results show that when lef-4 is knocked down, the transcription of 46 out of 62 late genes is downregulated compared to control samples, suggesting they are likely controlled by the viral RNA polymerase. Out of all 12,761 genes analyzed, 242 were shown to have differential expression after lef-4 knockdown. This study shows that the viral RNA polymerase plays a major role in transcriptional control of the expression of genes involved in Bracovirus production in wasp ovaries.