Characterization of phenoloxidase activity in venom from the ectoparasitoid Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

How the Venom from the Ectoparasitoid Wasp Nasonia vitripennis Exhibits Anti-Inflammatory Properties on Mammalian Cell Lines

“…Studies on the immune suppressive effect of N. vitripennis venom have always been directed on hemocytes of their hosts [56], [57] or cultured insect cells [37] [56] [58]–[60]. While investigating the possible function of parasitoid venom on mammalian cells may seem unlogic at first, the plethora of available research tools in these cell lines, that highly exceeds what is available in insect cell lines, convinced us to start working on mammalian cell lines.…”

The venom composition of the parasitic wasp Chelonus inanitus resolved by combined expressed sequence tags analysis and proteomic approach

“…Some develop outside (ectoparasitoids) and others inside (endoparasitoids) the body of an insect or other arthropod host and, depending on the species, various stages of the host can be parasitized (egg, egg-larval, larval, pupal and adult parasitoids). In ectoparasitoid species, venoms often induce paralysis and/or regulate host development, metabolism and immune responses [10-12]. Venom proteins from endoparasitic wasps are predominately involved in regulation of host physiology and immune responses alone or in combination with other factors of maternal origin such as polydnaviruses (PDVs) or virus-like particles present in the venom itself or produced in the ovaries and ovarian fluids [13-17].…”

Isolation and characterization of an immunosuppressive protein from venom of the pupa-specific endoparasitoid Pteromalus puparum

“…Similarly, venom from our tested endoparasitoid, P. puparum, acts alone to adversely affect host cellular immunity by significantly altering the morphology of hemocytes and reducing the percentage of spreading hemocytes and encapsulated non-self targets (Cai et al, 2004;Zhang et al, 2004cZhang et al, , 2005Ye et al, 2007). For these parasitoids lacking symbiotic viruses, however, any actual venom component involved in the inactivation of host cellular immunity has not been isolated from crude venom and defined although several peptides, proteins or enzymes have been characterized in P. hypochondriaca (Dani et al, 2003(Dani et al, , 2005Parkinson et al, 2001Parkinson et al, , 2002aParkinson et al, -c, 2003Parkinson et al, , 2004, P. turionellae (Uçkan et al, 2004;Ergin et al, 2007), N. vitripenns (Abt and Rivers, 2007;Rivers et al, 2006) and P. puparum (Zhang et al, 2005). In the present study, a single venom component, Vn.11 with a mean of 24.1 kDa in size has been isolated from crude venom by anion exchange chromatography.…”

“…Over the last several years, it is well documented that parasitoid venoms contain a rich and diverse array of peptides, proteins and enzymes actively contributed to the parasitic success of these organism by disrupting host cells or tissues, enhancing the action of other maternal factors, inhibiting host defences and/or modifying its metabolism and physiology (Asgari, 2006(Asgari, , 2007Beckage and Gelman, 2004;Moreau and Guillot, 2005;Nakamatsu and Tanaka, 2003). However, limited studies on isolation and characterization of venom components have been documented for hymenopteran parasitoids although a number of original peptides, proteins and enzymes have been reported from the venoms of a few species, including two ichneumonids (Dani et al, 2003(Dani et al, , 2005Ergin et al, 2007;Parkinson et al, 2001Parkinson et al, ,2002aParkinson et al, -c, 2003Parkinson et al, , 2004Uçkan et al, 2004), four braconids (Asgari et al, 2003a, b;Digilio et al 2000;Falabella et al, 2007;Jones et al, 1992;Krishnan et al, 1994;Moreau et al, 2004;Zhang et al, 2004aZhang et al, , b, 2006, one figitid (Labrosse et al, 2005a, b) and one pteromalid (Abt and Rivers, 2007). Additionally, among these venom components documented, only a virulence protein (P4) from Leptopilina boulardi venom (Labrosse et al, 2005a, b) and a calreticulin-like protein from Cotesia rubecula venom (Zhang et al, 2006) were isolated and determined to be involved in the suppression of host cellular immunity.…”