Genome Assembly and Comparative Analysis of the Egg Parasitoid Wasp <i>Trichogramma dendrolimi</i> Shed Light on the Composition and Evolution of Olfactory Receptors and Venoms

Abstract

Trichogramma dendrolimi is one of the most successfully industrialized Trichogramma species used to control agricultural and forestry pests in China. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying its host recognition and parasitism remain largely unknown, partially due to the limited genome information of this parasitoid wasp. Here, we present a high-quality de novo assembly of T. dendrolimi through a combination of Illumina and PacBio sequencing technologies. The final assembly had a length of 215.2 Mb and contains 316 scaffolds with a scaffold N50 size of 1.41 Mb. Repetitive sequences with a length of 63.4 Mb and 12,785 protein-coding genes were identified. Significantly expanded gene families were identified to be involved in the development and regulatory processes, while remarkably contracted gene families were involved in the transport processes in T. dendrolimi. The olfactory and venom-associated genes were identified in T. dendrolimi and 24 other hymenopteran species, using uniform methods combining BLAST and HMM profiling. The identified venom genes of T. dendrolimi were enriched in antioxidant activity, tricarboxylic acid cycle, response to oxidative stress and cell redox homeostasis. Our study provides an important resource for comparative genomics and functional studies to interpret the molecular mechanisms underlying host recognition and parasitism of Trichogramma species.

Keywords

• egg parasitoid wasp
• <i>Trichogramma dendrolimi</i>
• genome assembly
• olfactory receptor
• venom