Advances in Molecular Biology of Baculoviruses

Baculoviridae constitutes a family of insect-specific, large DNA viruses with a unique life cycle characterized by the production of two morphologically distinct virions, the budded virus (BV) and the occlusion-derived virus (ODV). ODV and BV, with different tissue tropisms, have been widely applied in the areas of biological control and biotechnology, respectively. In nature, baculovirus infection of susceptible host larvae is initiated by ODV-mediated primary infection, followed by the production of BV for spreading infection within larval body. Across millions of years of co-evolution with their hosts, baculoviruses have developed dedicated mechanisms for efficient entry/egress, genome replication/transcription, and virion assembly by employing either their own proteins or host machineries. They have also adopted versatile strategies to precisely regulate the immunity, behaviors and physiology of hosts to facilitate their own replication and dispersal. In this chapter, research advances relating to key aspects of the baculovirus life cycle are reviewed, and the application of a newly-developed baculovirus synthetic biology technology is introduced. Finally, future avenues for baculovirus research are discussed.