Variation in fly transcriptional responses after infection by diverse endoparasitoid wasp species. Lindsey C Fallis, Todd A Schlenke. Biology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

   Endoparasitoid wasps inject eggs into host hemocoels and flies attempt to encapsulate and kill the eggs by forming a multicellular hemocytic capsule. However, wasps inject venom cocktails with their eggs to suppress host immune function. Previous work showed tremendous variation in the fly transcriptional response to infection by two virulent Figitid wasp species suggesting closely related wasps can use vastly different immune suppressive virulence strategies. In this study I used Drosophila melanogaster as a common host to uncover variation in the ability of 10 different Figitid wasp species to suppress particular components of the fly transcriptional response to infection. Specifically, I used RNA-seq to assay the fly immune response to each wasp at three time points post-infection (0-4, 4-8, 8-12 hours). Using these data, I will identify the immune pathway targets of specific wasp venoms and identify associations between venom content, virulence effects, and wasp natural history.