Journal of General Virology (1996) 77, 3127-3134

J.G. Heldens, E.A. van Strien, A.M. Feldmann, P. Kulcsar, D. Munoz, D.J. Leisy, D. Zuidema, R.W. Goldbach and J.M. Vlak (1996)
Spodoptera exigua multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus deletion mutants generated in cell culture lack virulence in vivo
Journal of General Virology 77 (12), 3127-3134
Abstract: The baculovirus Spodoptera exigua multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) has high potential for development as a bio-insecticide for control of the beet armyworm (S. exigua). It is highly infectious for S. exigua larvae and its host range is very narrow. A prerequisite for such application is the possibility of growing this virus in large quantities, e.g. in insect cell lines. It was observed, however, that polyhedra of SeMNPV plaque-purified in Se-UCR1 cells did not cause larval mortality or morbidity when fed to S. exigua larvae. As this suggested a genetic alteration in in vitro produced SeMNPV, comparative restriction analysis of in vitro and in vivo produced SeMNPV DNA was performed. The restriction patterns of viral DNA from several different plaques always differed from that of the wild-type in the same way, suggesting that a large, single deletion had occurred in the in vitro produced viral genome. In order to localize this deletion more precisely a detailed physical map of the wild-type SeMNPV genome was constructed, using the restriction endonucleases XbaI, BamHI, Bg/II, PstI, SstI, HindIII and SpeI. In addition, the entire SeMNPV genome was cloned into a library containing five overlapping cosmids and a plasmid library. About 80 restriction sites were located and the orientation of the map was set according to the location of the polyhedrin and p10 genes. The approximate size of the viral genome was 134 kbp. Based on this map it could be established that mutant SeMNPV, obtained by passage in cell culture, contained a single deletion of approximately 25 kbp between map units 12.9 and 32.3.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Just M. Vlak, Douglas J. Leisy, Delia Muñoz

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

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Spodoptera exigua
Alphabaculovirus spexiguae (entomopathogen)	Spodoptera exigua