The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) has been widely used to produce a large number of recombinant proteins, and is becoming one of the most powerful, robust, and cost-effective systems for the production of eukaryotic proteins. Nevertheless, as in any other protein expression system, it is important to improve the production capabilities of this vector. The orf46 viral gene was iden...

The gene encoding the green fluorescent protein (gfp) under the control of the highly expressed Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV)-polyhedrin promoter has been introduced into the polyhedrin (polh) locus of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) by homologous recombination. The insect host larvae and the cultured cells infected with this recombinant virus (vBmGFP) showed hig...

Although phylogenic analysis often suggests co-evolutionary relationships between viruses and host organisms, few examples have been reported at the microevolutionary level. Here, we show a possible example in which a species-specific anti-viral response may drive phylogenic divergence in insect virus evolution. Two baculoviruses, Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) an...

CUN085 is an occlusion body (OB) protein from the nucleopolyhedrovirus of Culex nigripalpus (CuniNPV). SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that the CuniNPV OB protein is about 3 times the size (approximately 90 kDa) of characterized nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPVs) and granulovirus OB proteins. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), RNase protection assay, real-time PCR, and protein sequencing were used t...

Baculoviruses infect larval lepidopterans, and thus have potential value as microbial controls of agricultural and forest pests. Understanding their genetic relatedness and host specificity is relevant to the risk assessment of viral insecticides if non-target impacts are to be avoided. DNA polymerase gene sequences have been demonstrated to be useful for inferring genetic relatedness among dsD...

Lepidopteran larvae are regularly infected by baculoviruses during feeding on infected plants. The differences in sensitivity to these infections can be substantial, even among closely related species. For example, the noctuids Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea) and Tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens), have a 1000-fold difference in sensitivity to Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedr...