Aurélie Hua-Van (IGGIPOP) is involved in a project carried by a team of University of Tours in collaboration with scientists from University of Valence.
This work showed that genes from parasitic wasps were found in the genome of numerous butterflies. These genes intregrated the genome thanks to the viruses that parasitic wasps injected in the caterpillar when they laid their eggs. These butterflies can so be called natural GMOs. This work was distinguished by a brève on l’INEE’ web site.
The paper references are: Recurrent Domestication by Lepidoptera of Genes from their Parasites Mediated by Bracoviruses par Leila Gasmi, Hélène Boulain, Jérémy Gauthier, Aurélie Hua-Van, Karine Musset, Agata Jakubowska, Jean-Marc Aury, Anne-Nathalie Volkoff, Elisabeth Huguet, Salvador Herrero, Jean-Michel Drezen, publié dans PLOS Genetics le 17 septembre 2015