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The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL
Published on: July 11, 2013
Persistence and coexistence of engineered baculoviruses
M B Bonsall1, D R O'Reilly, J S Cory
1Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. m.bonsall@imperial.ac.uk
Theoretical Population Biology
|May 13, 2005
Summary
Modifying baculoviruses (nucleopolyhedroviruses) for biopesticides requires understanding ecological theory. Simple transmission models show life-history changes alone don't ensure strain coexistence, necessitating transmission heterogeneities for persistence.
Area of Science:
- Entomology
- Virology
- Ecology
Background:
- Baculoviruses, specifically nucleopolyhedroviruses, are insect pathogens with biopesticide potential.
- A key limitation for their use as biocontrol agents is their slow speed of kill.
- Modifications to pathogen life history can impact the ecological dynamics of wildtype and altered strains.
Purpose of the Study:
- To theoretically explore how pathogen life-history modifications influence the epidemiology and ecology of strain coexistence.
- To investigate the conditions necessary for the persistence of both wildtype and modified baculovirus strains.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of disease transmission dynamics.
- Analysis of mass action transmission and heterogeneous transmission scenarios.
- Examination of infectivity patterns between different pathogen strains.
Main Results:
- Under simple mass action transmission, differences in life history between pathogen strains are insufficient to allow for their coexistence.
- Additional heterogeneities in disease transmission are required to facilitate the coexistence of wildtype and modified strains.
- The infectivity patterns of both wildtype and modified strains significantly influence long-term coexistence.
Conclusions:
- Life-history modifications alone are not enough to ensure the ecological coexistence of baculovirus strains.
- Heterogeneities in transmission dynamics are crucial for enabling the persistence of diverse pathogen strains.
- Ecological theory must guide the assessment of genetically modified pathogens for biocontrol applications.
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