Transcriptome of Cotesia vestalis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) during different developmental stages

The parasitoid wasp Cotesia vestalis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) plays an important role in biological control of a global pest of cruciferous plants, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). While the genome of C. vestalis has been reported recently, post-transcriptional mechanisms associated with development and sex determination have not been comprehensively studied. We used high throughput sequencing platform to perform genome-guided transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis across different developmental stages. Large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were discovered through pairwise comparisons between male and female during different developmental stages.