New PCR primers enhance investigation of host-parasitoid food webs

What is it about?

We designed PCR primers to amplify parasitoid (wasps, flies) DNA (28S gene) from caterpillars without amplifying the caterpillar DNA. We evaluated their potential by using the green cloverworm as an example system. Parasitoids can usually be identified to genus by sequencing the parasitoid DNA. Separate primers were designed for wasps and flies.

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Why is it important?

Anyone studying caterpillar species and wants to identify its parasitoids and rate of parasitism can use these primers to do so without the long process of rearing hundreds of specimens. This method will likely give more accurate results for estimating parasitism rates and give a reasonably specific identification of the parasitoids, provided that 28S sequences of the parasitoids are available from GenBank.