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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Biological Control of Insects Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #149774
Title: VIRUCIDAL ACTIVITY IN HELIOTHIS VIRESCENS PLASMA

Author
item Shelby, Kent
item Popham, Holly
item Brandt, Sandra
item Coudron, Thomas

Submitted to: National Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2003
Publication Date: 10/29/2003
Citation: Shelby, K., Popham, H.J., Brandt, S.L., Coudron, T.A. 2003. Virucidal activity in heliothis virescens plasma [abstract]. National Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. p. 118.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Lepidopteran larvae are known to resist baculovirus infection by selective apoptosis or sloughing off of infected cells from the midgut. Once the baculovirus infection breaches the midgut barrier, however, there are few known mechanisms to account for the resistance and clearance of infection observed in some virus/host combinations. We tested the hypothesis that factors in the plasma of the insect could act to limit the spread of baculoviruses within the hemocoel. We have developed an in vitro assay in which Helicoverpa zea single nucleopolyhedrovirus (HzSNPV) particles were pre-incubated with plasma collected from uninfected Heliothis virescens larvae prior to in vitro assay on HzAM-1 cells. The preincubation of virus reduced the TCID50/ml by more than 40 fold (7.7 + or - 3.3 x 10E5 to 1.8 + or - 1.3 x 10E4). The virucidal activity was stable to freezing, but inactivated by incubation at 55 deg C and by incubation with proteinase K. We will report on the biological and biochemical characterization of this constitutive humoral antiviral mechanism in insects.