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The Host Specificities of Baculovirus per os Infectivity Factors
Jingjiao Song1,2, Xi Wang1, Dianhai Hou1
1State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, P. R. China.
Plos One
|July 26, 2016
Summary
Baculovirus per os infectivity factors (PIFs) determine host range. Replacing core PIFs in Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus revealed strict host specificities, explaining limited baculovirus host ranges.
Area of Science:
- * Insect pathology
- * Molecular virology
- * Host-pathogen interactions
Background:
- * Baculoviruses are insect pathogens with narrow host ranges.
- * Oral infection requires specific interactions between per os infectivity factors (PIFs) and host midgut cells.
- * The precise roles and host specificities of core PIFs remain largely unelucidated.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To investigate the host specificities of four core baculovirus per os infectivity factors (PIFs): P74, PIF1, PIF2, and PIF3.
- * To determine the contribution of these PIFs to the narrow host range of baculoviruses.
- * To engineer recombinant baculoviruses with altered PIF complexes to assess oral infectivity.
Main Methods:
- * Construction of recombinant Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV) with PIF genes replaced by counterparts from Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) or Spodoptera litura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV).
- * Transfection and infection assays to evaluate viral replication and production of infectious budded viruses (BVs).
- * Oral feeding experiments using occlusion bodies and bioassays to determine median lethal concentration (LC50) and oral infectivity.
Main Results:
- * All recombinant viruses produced infectious BVs and were lethal upon injection, but most lost oral infectivity when fed to H. armigera.
- * Only the recombinant virus with SpltNPV pif3 (vHaBacΔpif3-Sppif3-ph) retained partial oral infectivity.
- * The median lethal concentration (LC50) of vHaBacΔpif3-Sppif3-ph was significantly higher than the control, indicating SpltNPV PIF3 only partially substituted HearNPV PIF3 function.
Conclusions:
- * The four core PIFs investigated exhibit strict host specificities.
- * These PIF-mediated host specificities contribute significantly to the limited host range observed in baculoviruses.
- * Understanding PIF function is crucial for elucidating baculovirus-host interactions and host range determination.
