Viruses (2019) 11 (7 - 602)

Bergmann Morais Ribeiro, Ethiane Rozo dos Santos, Luana Beló Trentin, Leonardo Assis da Silva, Fernando Lucas de Melo, Elliot Watanabe Kitajima and Daniel M.P. Ardisson-Araújo (2019)
A Nymphalid-infecting group I Alphabaculovirus isolated from the major passion fruit caterpillar pest Dione juno juno (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Viruses 11 (7 - 602)
Abstract: Baculoviruses are capable of infecting a wide diversity of insect pests. In the 1990s, the Dione juno nucleopolyhedrovirus (DijuNPV) was isolated from larvae of the major passionfruit defoliator pest Dione juno juno (Nymphalidae) and described at ultrastructural and pathological levels. In this study, the complete genome sequence of DijuNPV was determined and analyzed. The circular genome presents 122,075 bp with a G + C content of 50.9%. DijuNPV is the first alphabaculovirus completely sequenced that was isolated from a nymphalid host and may represent a divergent species. It appeared closely related to Orgyia pseudotsugata multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (OpMNPV) and other Choristoneura-isolated group I alphabaculoviruses. We annotated 153 open reading frames (ORFs), including a set of 38 core genes, 26 ORFs identified as present in lepidopteran baculoviruses, 17 ORFs unique in baculovirus, and several auxiliary genes (e.g., bro, cathepsin, chitinase, iap-1, iap-2, and thymidylate kinase). The thymidylate kinase (tmk) gene was present fused to a dUTPase (dut) gene in other baculovirus genomes. DijuNPV likely lost the dut portion together with the iap-3 homolog. Overall, the genome sequencing of novel alphabaculoviruses enables a wide understanding of baculovirus evolution.
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Database assignments for author(s): Bergmann Morais Ribeiro, Elliot W. Kitajima

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Dione juno	Passionfruit (Passiflora)	Brazil (south)
Alphabaculovirus dijunonis (entomopathogen)	Dione juno	Passionfruit (Passiflora)	Brazil (south)