The emerald jewel wasp Ampulex compressa (Hymenoptera: Ampulicidae) is a solitary wasp that is widely known for its specialized hunting of cockroaches as larvae provision. Adult wasps mainly feed on pollen and nectar, while their larvae feed on the cockroachs' body, first as ecto- and later as endoparsitoids. Little is known about the expression of digestive, detoxification and stress-response-related genes in the midgut of A. compressa, or about its transcriptional versatility between life stages. Here we explored the midgut transcriptome of lab-reared A. compressa, both adults and larvae, focusing on significantly up-regulated genes related to digestion, detoxification, and stress response. We identified 51 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to digestion, of which two carbohydrases (alpha amylase and glycosyl hydrolases) and two proteinases (chymotrypsin and trypsin) revealed the highest gene diversity. We further identified eleven significant DEGs related to detoxification, which comprise GST, cytochrome P450s, UGTs, and three DEGs putatively involved in stress response. The expression levels of alpha amylases, chymotrypsin and trypsin vary strongly between life stages, and adult wasps seem to have a higher gene diversity than their larvae. The number of genes related to alpha amylases, glycosyl hydrolase family 31 and cytochrome P450s is similar across other hymenopteran species, except for the identified glycosyl hydrolase family 31 gene, which was absent in all analyzed bee species. Our identified candidate genes provide a basis for future comparative genomic and proteomic studies on (ontogenetic) dietary transitions in Hymenoptera.
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