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First published online June 26, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 2261-2268 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.025718
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A supracellular system of actin-lined canals controls biogenesis and release of virulence factors in parasitoid venom glands

Roberto Ferrarese1, Jorge Morales1, Daniel Fimiarz1, Bruce A. Webb2 and Shubha Govind1,*

1 Biology Department MR526, City College of the City University of New York, 138th street and Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, USA
2 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: sgovind{at}ccny.cuny.edu)

Accepted 27 April 2009

Parasitoid wasps produce virulence factors that bear significant resemblance to viruses and have the ability to block host defense responses. The function of these virulence factors, produced predominantly in wasp venom glands, and the ways in which they interfere with host development and physiology remain mysterious. Here, we report the discovery of a specialized system of canals in venom glands of five parasitoid wasps that differ in their infection strategies. This supracellular canal system is made up of individual secretory units, one per secretory cell. Individual units merge into the canal lumen. The membrane surface of the proximal end of each canal within the secretory cell assumes brush border morphology, lined with bundles of F-actin. Systemic administration of cytochalasin D compromises the integrity of the secretory unit. We show a dynamic and continuous association of p40, a protein of virus-like particles from a Drosophila parasitoid, L. heterotoma, with the canal and venom gland lumen. Similar structures in three Leptopilina species and Ganaspis xanthopoda, parasitoids of Drosophila spp., and Campoletis sonorenesis, a parasitoid of Heliothis virescens, suggest that this novel supracellular canal system is likely to be a common trait of parasitoid venom glands that is essential for efficient biogenesis and delivery of virulence factors.

Key words: host, pathogen, parasitoid, venom gland, virulence, brush border, canal


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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2009