Werren John H, Loehlin David W, Giebel Jonathan D
Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2009 Oct;2009(10):pdb.prot5311. doi: 10.1101/pdb.prot5311.
Nasonia is a complex of four closely related species of wasps with several features that make it an excellent system for a variety of genetic studies. These include a short generation time, ease of rearing, interfertile species, visible and molecular markers, and a sequenced genome. Furthermore, its parasitoid lifestyle allows investigations of questions relating to parasitoid/host dynamics, host preference, and specialist versus generalist biology. It also can serve as a behavior model for studies of courtship, male aggression and territoriality, female dispersal, and sex ratio control. This protocol describes a method to use RNA interference (RNAi) to knock down genes in Nasonia larvae. Unlike in Drosophila, RNAi in Nasonia is systemic. In the example presented here, adult red-eye-color phenotypes are produced by injecting double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) against the eye color gene cinnabar into last-instar Nasonia larvae.
丽蝇蛹集金小蜂是由四种亲缘关系密切的黄蜂组成的复合体，具有多种特性，使其成为各种基因研究的理想系统。这些特性包括世代周期短、易于饲养、种间可育、可见标记和分子标记以及已测序的基因组。此外，其寄生性生活方式有助于研究与寄生蜂/宿主动态、宿主偏好以及专性与广性生物学相关的问题。它还可以作为求偶、雄性攻击和领地行为、雌性扩散以及性别比例控制研究的行为模型。本方案描述了一种利用RNA干扰（RNAi）敲除丽蝇蛹集金小蜂幼虫基因的方法。与果蝇不同，丽蝇蛹集金小蜂中的RNAi是系统性的。在此处给出的例子中，通过将针对眼色基因朱砂眼的双链RNA（dsRNA）注射到末龄丽蝇蛹集金小蜂幼虫中，产生了成年红眼表型。
