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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material All Versions of this Article: vir.0.011718-0v1 90/8/2023    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Chikhalya, A. Articles by Haas-Stapleton, E. J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chikhalya, A. Articles by Haas-Stapleton, E. J. Agricola Articles by Chikhalya, A. Articles by Haas-Stapleton, E. J.

Pathogenesis of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus in fifth-instar Anticarsia gemmatalis larvae

Aniska Chikhalya

Dee Dee Luu

Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, 1250 Bellflower Road, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA

Correspondence
Eric J. Haas-Stapleton
ehaas{at}csulb.edu

We have investigated infection and pathogenesis of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) in Anticarsia gemmatalis (velvetbean caterpillar) larvae using a lacZ recombinant virus (AcMNPV-hsp70/lacZ) to track the temporal progression of infection in the midgut intestine and haemocoel. A. gemmatalis was highly resistant to fatal infection by occlusion bodies (OBs; LD₅₀>5.5x10⁵ OB) and budded virus (BV; LD₅₀>3x10⁵ BV) administered via oral and systemic routes, respectively. Orally administered occlusion-derived virus (ODV) efficiently attached and fused to midgut cells; however, high levels of infection-induced apoptosis limited infection in the midgut. Transcriptional analysis of AcMNPV genes expressed in the midgut of OB-inoculated A. gemmatalis larvae showed high levels of mRNA encoding the major capsid protein VP39 in the absence of immediate-early transactivator 1 (ie-1) expression. In the midgut, virus was efficiently transferred from infected midgut epithelial cells to nearby tracheolar cells and circulating haemocytes to initiate systemic infection in the haemocoel. However, haemocoelic BV did not efficiently disseminate infection and only cuticular epidermal cells displayed high levels of viral infection. Flow cytometry analysis of haemocytes isolated from BV-inoculated A. gemmatalis larvae showed low-level expression of the BV envelope protein GP64 on the cell surface, suggesting that A. gemmatalis haemocytes have a limited capacity for amplifying virus. These results show that AcMNPV is not an effective biological control agent for limiting crop damage caused by A. gemmatalis larvae.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

A supplementary table of primer sequences and RT-PCR conditions, and two supplementary figures are available with the online version of this paper.