Does host-feeding on GNA-intoxicated aphids by Aphelinus abdominalis affect their longevity and/or fecundity?

Transgenic potatoes have been transformed with a gene coding the snowdrop l ectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) and they have been shown to be par tially resistant to aphids. GNA binds to insect gut cells, including those of aphids, consequently inducing disruption of nutrient assimilation. Aphid parasitoids are important natural biocontrol agents of aphids and some spe cies such as Aphelinus abdominalis are commercially available. Aphid parasi toids are endoparasitoids during their larval stages and free-living insect s as adults. They could be directly or indirectly affected by GNA during bo th these stages, In this work, we present data on the potential direct and indirect effects of GNA on adult A. abdominalis. Aphelinus abdominalis is a synovigenic species (eggs are matured throughout the adult life) which needs a diet relatively rich in proteins and amino-a cids to produce anhydropic eggs (large, yolk-rich eggs that do not expand i n the host during embryonic stages). Adult A. abdominalis females feed on a phid haemolymph and they may be directly exposed to the entomotoxin or indi rectly affected by a change in aphid haemolymph quality due to intoxication by GNA. We conducted a first tier experiment to investigate this potential risk. A. abdominalis females were offered either aphids reared on control diet or aphids reared on GNA 0.1% diet as hosts (i.e., as food and oviposit ion sites). No trace of GNA was found in females fed with GNA-aphids but no GNA could be detected in the haemolymph of aphids fed a 0.1% GNA diet. Lon gevity and fecundity were not affected suggesting that the quality of the h aemolymph necessary for A. abdominalis egg maturation and production was no t significantly altered.