Author
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Lynn, Dwight |
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Shapiro, Martin |
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Submitted to: Society for Invertebrate Pathology Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/22/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, is a very serious pest of tobacco and cotton in the southern U.S. This insect quickly develops resistance to chemical pesticides and thus may be a prime target for biological controls, including insect viruses. We have recently developed new cell lines from embryos of this insect. Six primary cultures were initiated in June, 1995. From these initial cultures, two produced sufficient cell growth to allow subcultivation and eventually led to the development of six cell strains, half of which are maintained at low temperatures (17 deg C). All the cell strains have been inoculated with various baculoviruses, including Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV), Anagrapha falcifera NPV, Rachoplusia ou NPV, Lymantria dispar NPV (LdMNPV), Orgyia pseudotsugata NPV, O. leucostigma NPV (OlMNPV), Helicoverpa zea NPV, and H. armigera granulosis virus. All six were highly susceptible to the four noctuid NPVs which included production of large numbers of occlusion bodies (OBs) in most of the inoculated cells. Three of the strains were also susceptible to the douglas fir tussock moth NPV although only 10-20% of the cells produced OBs with this virus. We did not observe cytopathology (CPE) in any cells inoculated with OlMNPV or LdMNPV. Some CPE (cell rounding, granular appearance in the nucleus or cytoplasm and reduced cell growth) was apparent at the light microscope level in four strains inoculated with HaGV but we still need to confirm that this is due to virus replication. Our results suggest these new lines will be useful in baculovirology. |
