Applied Entomology and Zoology (2017) 52, 389-399

Mudasir Gani, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Sajad Majeed Zargar, Gurmeet Kour, Md Monobrullah, Thamilarasi Kandasamy and A. Mohanasundaram (2017)
Molecular identification and phylogenetic analyses of multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus isolated from Lymantria obfuscata (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in India
Applied Entomology and Zoology 52 (3), 389-399
Abstract: The Lymantria obfuscata Walker (Lyob) multiple (M) nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) (LyobMNPV) has been isolated and successfully applied for the management of the Indian gypsy moth, L. obfuscata in Jammu and Kashmir (JandK), India. The present work aimed to investigate the variability of LyobMNPV isolates from six localities of JandK through molecular [amplification of the polyhedrin (polh), late expression factor-8 (lef-8) and late expression factor-9 (lef-9) genes] and biological (bioassays) characterization. To identify the position of LyobMNPV in the phylogenetic tree of baculoviruses, partial sequences of the polh, lef-8 and lef-9 genes were determined by using the DNA sequences within their coding regions by optimizing the polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers. The sequence alignment revealed that LyobMNPV isolates exhibited seven, five and eleven single nucleotide polymorphic sites in the case of polh, lef-8 and lef-9, respectively. The phylogenetic analyses supported placing LyobMNPV with the Lymantria dispar L. MNPV (LdMNPV) isolates from different countries, and showed that it was more closely related to LdMNPV than to Lymantria xylina Swinhoe NPV and Lymantria monacha L. NPV. The contaminated diet plug bioassays using 2nd instar larvae indicated that the median lethal dose (LD₅₀) and median survival time (ST₅₀) of different isolates of LyobMNPV against L. obfuscata were lower than those of LdMNPV against L. dispar. LyobMNPV was more closely related to LdMNPV but its LD₅₀ and ST₅₀ were lower than those of LdMNPV. The study provides novel information on the position of LyobMNPV in the phylogenetic tree of baculoviruses and about biological and genetic variation of Lymantria species' NPV isolates from different parts of the world.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
(original language: English)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Mohammad Monobrullah

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Lymantria obfuscata		India
Lymantria obfuscata multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (entomopathogen)	Lymantria obfuscata		India