Selective destruction of a host blood cell type by a parasitoid wasp

Foreign objects that enter the hemocoel of Drosophila melanogaster larvae are encapsulated by one type of blood cell, the lamellocyte, yet eggs of the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina heterotoma remain unencapsulated in D. melanogaster larval hosts that have many lamellocytes. Here we demonstrate that shortly after a female wasp oviposits in the hemocoel the lamellocytes undergo morphological changes and lose their adhesiveness. These affected blood cells are eventually destroyed as the parasitoid egg continues its development. The factor responsible for lamellocyte destruction, lamellolysin, is contained in an accessory gland of the female reproductive system and is injected along with the egg into the host hemocoel. Lamellolysin does not alter the morphology or the defense functions of the other types of blood cells in the host.