A transcriptomic atlas of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis across ploidy, sex, and tissue [RNA-seq TRA]

It has haplodiploid sex determination: unfertilized eggs develop into haploid males and fertilized eggs develop into diploid females. Additionally, polyploids (diploid males, triploid females) occur in Nasonia, representing gene expression mechanisms regulating sexual maintenance outside of standard haplodiploidy.

Here, we generated a transcriptomic atlas for N. vitripennis across two tissues (head and abdomen) for typical haploid males and diploid females and polyploid diploid males and triploid females. These data are a resource for analyses on transcriptomic differences across sex, tissue type, ploidy, strain, and temporal change.