Virology & Mycology
Open Access

Characterization of a granulovirus from the fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae)

Joint Event 10^th International Virology Summit & 4^th International Conference on Influenza & Zoonotic Diseases

July 02-04, 2018 | Vienna, Austria

Remziye Nalcacioglu, Zeynep Bayramoglu, Hacer Muratoglu, Zihni Demirbag and Ismail Demir

Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Virol Mycol

Abstract :

A broad survey of the fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) populations in agricultural and forested areas in the central black sea region of Turkey led to the detection of granuloviruses (GVs). Thirty insect cadavers were collected from different locations, 8 of which contained GVs. All of them were determined to be Hyphantria cunea granulovirus (HycuGV) by tissue PCR and sequence analysis. A selected isolate (Hc1) was characterized and tested against third instar larvae of H. cunea. Electron microscopy confirmed typical GV morphology with ovoid granules of approximately 318-546 nm �?�? 174-240 nm. Each granule contained a single rod-shaped virion with a mean size of 35-51 nm �?�? 202-341 nm. The genome was estimated to be â�?²123 kb by restriction endonuclease analysis. Partial sequencing of the granulin ,late expression factor-8 (lef-8) and late expression factor-9 (lef-9) genes also confirmed the identity of the virus as HycuGV. A phylogenetic analysis based on these conserved genes, HycuGV-Hc1 grouped together with the previous HycuGV isolate (A5-1) and Estigmene acrea granulovirus (EsacGV) isolate from the same family. The LC50 of Hc1 isolate was 2.6�?�?104 occlusion bodies (OBs/ml) against third instar H. cunea larvae. HycuGV-Hc1 caused 80.17% mortality with 109 OBs/ml in pot experiments performed in a greenhouse. This is the first study to describe a novel Turkish HycuGV-Hc1 isolate and preliminary data suggest the virus have a significant potential as an effective biopesticide for H. cunea control.

Biography :

Remziye Nalcacioglu has completed her PhD in 2003 from Karadeniz Technical University, in Turkey. She has been working in the same universirty as an academician. She is working on insect viruses including baculoviruses, iridoviruses.

E-mail: remziye@ktu.edu.tr