Next Thursday 4 November 2021 12:00 am on the Seminar Room - SS6 (Institutes building floor -1) and on live streaming, Luc Brendonck (University of Leuven (KU Leuven) - Belgium) will give a Seminar on "African Killifish: Vertebrate model with invertebrate life history".
SEMINAR(i): African Killifish: Vertebrate model with invertebrate life history.
WHO?: Luc Brendonck (University of Leuven (KU Leuven) - Belgium)
LANGUAGE?: English.
WHEN?: Thursday 04/11/2021 - 12:00 am.
WHERE?: Seminar Room - SS6 (Institutes building floor -1) & Live streaming.
ABSTRACT:
Lepidopteran insects are extensively exploited by parasitic wasps using them as oviposition hosts. However, lepidopteran insects are also commonly exposed to viral infections by large double-stranded DNA viruses, including baculovirus, entomopoxvirus and ascovirus. In addition, parasitic wasps require the action of symbiotic viruses to suppress the host immunity allowing the successful development of the parasite. Such multitrophic interactions among viruses, parasitoid wasps and their insect hosts results in overlapping of ecological niches among multiple genomes which may drive divergent evolutionary pressures and promote the exchange of genetic information through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this work we report the discovery of multiple events of gene acquisition and domestication of viral-derived genes by Lepidoptera. By deciphering the molecular function of the acquired genes, we provide evidences of HGT as important driving forces in the virus-parasitoid-lepidopteran host evolutionary arms race.
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