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Title: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY FOR DETECTION OF THE GREGARIOUS HYMENOPTERAN PARASITOID MUSCIDIFURAX RAPTORELLUS IN HOUSE FLY PUPAE

Author
item KEEN, DOUGLAS - UNIV IL-URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
item Keen, James
item HE, YONGSHENG - FORMER ARS EMPLOYEE
item JONES, CARL - UNIV IL-URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

Submitted to: Biological Control
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/7/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Muscidifurax raptorellus are gregarious small wasps that parasitize & kill stable fly & house fly ("filth fly") puparia. These wasps lay their eggs in filth fly pupae, & the wasp larva hatch & eat the developing fly inside the pupae. Strategic releases of M. raptorellus & other micro-wasp parasitoids have been used in studies of biological control of pest flies (such as house flies & stable flies) that develop in livestock waste. Lack of an accurate & simple method to estimate fly parasitism rates has limited the assessment of the utility of filth fly biological control by M. raptorellus & other parasitoids. Conventional estimates of parasitism rates are based on measurements of both the emergence of adult wasps parasitoids from puparia & the noneclosion (non-emergence) of adult host flies (assuming parasitoid-induced pupal mortality). Microdissection of dipteran pupae for parasitoid presence is a difficult & tedious alternative method to estimate eparasitism rates. In the present study, we produced polyclonal rabbit anti M. raptorellus larvae serum antibodies, absorbed the antiserum with house fly puparia homogenates to remove host-reactive antibodies, & used the absorbed antiserum in a rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect M. raptorellus larvae in parasitized house fly pupae. The ELISA accurately detected M. raptorellus parasitism of house fly pupae between 7 & 21 days post-sting & detected parasitoids in nonemergent house fly pupae. Absorbed antiserum specificity for parasitoid antigens was confirmed by Western blots. This first report of filth fly pupal parasitoid detection by enzyme immunoassay suggests that this approach has potential as a research & surveillance tool for monitoring & quantifying the success of parasitoid releases for biological control of fly pests.

Technical Abstract: Muscidifurax raptorellus are gregarious parasitoids of stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) and house fly (Musca domestica L.) puparia. Strategic inundative releases of mass-reared M. raptorellus and other microhymenopteran parasitoids have been used in studies of biological control of pest and hemophagic dipterans that develop in livestock waste. Lack of an accurate and simple method to estimate pupal parasitism rates has limited the assessment of the utility of filth fly biological control by M. raptorellus and other parasitoids. Conventional estimates of parasitism rates are based on measurements of both the emergence of adult wasp parasitoids from puparia and the noneclosion of adult host flies (assuming parasitoid-induced pupal mortality). Microdissection of dipteran pupae for parasitoid presence is a difficult and tedious alternative method to estimate parasitism rates. In the present study, we produced polyclonal rabbit anti-M. raptorellus larvae serum antibodies, absorbed the antiserum with house fly puparia homogenates to remove muscoid host-reactive antibodies, and used the absorbed antiserum in a rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect M. raptorellus larvae in parasitized house fly pupae. The ELISA accurately detected M. raptorellus parasitism of house fly pupae between 7 and 21 days poststing and detected parasitoids in nonemergent house fly pupae. Absorbed antiserum specificity for parasitoid antigens was confirmed by Western blots. This first report of muscoid pupal parasitoid detection by enzyme immunoassay suggests that this approach has potential as a research and surveillance tool for monitoring and quantifying the success of parasitoid releases for biological control of dipteran pests.