Parras-Jurado, A.; Muñoz, D.; Beperet, I.; Williams, T.; Caballero, P. Insecticidal Traits of Variants in a Genotypically Diverse Natural Isolate of Anticarsia Gemmatalis Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV). Viruses2023, 15, 1526.
Parras-Jurado, A.; Muñoz, D.; Beperet, I.; Williams, T.; Caballero, P. Insecticidal Traits of Variants in a Genotypically Diverse Natural Isolate of Anticarsia Gemmatalis Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV). Viruses 2023, 15, 1526.
Parras-Jurado, A.; Muñoz, D.; Beperet, I.; Williams, T.; Caballero, P. Insecticidal Traits of Variants in a Genotypically Diverse Natural Isolate of Anticarsia Gemmatalis Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV). Viruses2023, 15, 1526.
Parras-Jurado, A.; Muñoz, D.; Beperet, I.; Williams, T.; Caballero, P. Insecticidal Traits of Variants in a Genotypically Diverse Natural Isolate of Anticarsia Gemmatalis Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV). Viruses 2023, 15, 1526.
Abstract
Outbreaks of Anticarsia gemmatalis (Hübner, 1818) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae), a major pest of soybean, can be controlled below economic thresholds with methods that do not involve the application of synthetic insecticides. Formulations based on natural isolates of the Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) (Baculoviridae: Alphabaculovirus), played a significant role in integrated pest management programs in the early 2000s, but a new generation of chemical insecticides and transgenic soybean, have displaced AgMNPV-based products over the past decade. However, the marked genotypic variability present among and within alphabaculovirus isolates suggests that highly insecticidal genotypic variants can be isolated and used to reduce virus production costs or overcome isolate-dependent host resistance. This study aimed to select novel variants of AgMNPV with suitable insecticidal traits that could comple-ment the existing AgMNPV active ingredients. Three distinct AgMNPV isolates were compared by restriction endonuclease profile and in terms of their occlusion body (OB) pathogenicity. One isolate was selected (AgABB51) from which eighteen genotypic variants were plaque purified and characterized in terms of their insecticidal properties. The five most pathogenic variants varied in OB pathogenicity although none of them was faster-killing or had higher OB production characteristics than the wild-type isolate. We conclude that the AgABB51 wild-type isolates ap-pear to be genotypically structured for fast speed-of-kill and high OB production, both of which would favor transmission. Interactions among the component variants are likely to influence this insecticidal phenotype.
Keywords
Baculoviridae; bioinsecticide; genotypic variant; pathogenicity; virulence; occlusion body production
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
