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Genomic comparison of Neodiprion sertifer and Neodiprion lecontei nucleopolyhedroviruses and identification of potential hymenopteran baculovirus-specific open reading frames

Hilary A. M. Lauzon^1,

Alejandra Garcia-Maruniak^2,

¹ Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada
² Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Bldg 970, Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
³ LEMB, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, USP, Av. Lineu Prestes 1374, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
⁴ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida College of Medicine, PO Box 100245, Gainesville, FL 32610-0245, USA
⁵ Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
⁶ Canadian Forest Service, Atlantic Forestry Centre, PO Box 4000, Regent Street, Fredericton, NB E3B 5P7, Canada

Correspondence
James E. Maruniak
jem{at}ifas.ufl.edu

Genomic comparison of Neodiprion sertifer nucleopolyhedrovirus (NeseNPV) and Neodiprion lecontei nucleopolyhedrovirus (NeleNPV) showed that the hymenopteran baculoviruses had features in common and were distinct from other, fully sequenced lepidopteran and dipteran baculoviruses. Their genomes were small in size (86 462 and 81 755 bp, respectively), had low G+C contents (33.8 and 33.3 mol%, respectively) and contained fewer open reading frames (ORFs) (90 and 89, respectively) than other baculoviruses. They shared 69 ORFs (48.6 % mean amino acid identity overall), 43 of which were previously identified baculovirus homologues. The remaining shared ORFs could be common to other baculoviruses, but low amino acid identities precluded identifying them as such. Some may also be unique to hymenopteran baculoviruses. These included a trypsin-like protease, a zinc-finger protein, regulator of chromosome condensation proteins, a densovirus capsid-like protein and a phosphotransferase. Structural analysis, the presence of conserved domains and phylogenetic studies suggested that some of these ORFs may be functional and could have been transferred horizontally from an insect host. ORFs found only in NeseNPV and NeleNPV may play a role in host specificity and/or tissue tropism, as hymenopteran baculoviruses are restricted to the midgut. The genomes were basically collinear, but contained non-syntenic regions (NSRs) with large numbers of repeats between their polyhedrin and dbp genes. They differed from each other in the number of ORFs and the G+C content of their NSRs and the presence of homologous regions in the NeseNPV genome. NeleNPV also had a short inversion relative to NeseNPV. NeseNPV contained 21 ORFs not found in NeleNPV and NeleNPV had 20 ORFs not found in NeseNPV.

These authors contributed equally to this work.