Cotesia flavipes polydnaviruses and host immunity

Polydnaviruses (PDVs) are endogenous particles that are used by some endoparasitic hymenoptera to disrupt host immunity and development. An endoparasitoid wasp, Cotesia flavipes, parasitizes larvae of the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis. In this presentation, I will discuss the encapsulation and nodulation response of permissive and semipermissive hosts due to parasitization by Cotesia flavipes. The effects of parasitization on host growth and humoral immunity, in terms of Phenoloxidase and lysozyme activity, will be also discussed.