http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/bitstream/doc/188183/1/ID277221.pdf

Baculoviruses-- re-emerging biopesticides.

/pdf/advances-in-microbial-control-of-insect-pests-skvqghgo02.pdf

Advances in Microbial Control of Insect Pests

Baculoviruses are insect pathogenic viruses that are used for pest insect control and as tools to produce recombinant proteins. Numerous studies show that both natural baculoviruses and genetically modified (GM) baculoviruses hold clear and substantial benefits for crop protection. Natural baculoviruses and potentially GM baculoviruses are particularly valuable under conditions where traditional chemical insecticides, have become ineffective, are economically prohibitive or have lost favor with the general public. The increased use of natural baculoviruses for pest insect control as well as GM baculoviruses for the production of pharmaceuticals may open doors to the use of GM baculoviruses for pest insect control. We review here the major approaches that are used to modify the baculovirus genome for improved efficacy as a biopesticide. The most common and successful of these approaches involve the insertion of a gene into the baculovirus genome that disrupts host insect feeding or is toxic to the host. GM baculoviruses remain a viable alternative to synthetic chemical pesticides and GM crops, we believe that baculoviruses should be utilized when alternative methods of pest insect control are required due to resistance, high cost of traditional insecticides, or changes in the regulatory environment and public opinion.

6.9 – Genetically Modified Baculoviruses for Pest Insect Control

Effects of a protease-expressing recombinant baculovirus on nontarget insect predators of Heliothis virescens

Baculoviruses are arthropod-specific viruses that infect species mainly within the order Lepidoptera (Adams and McClintock, 1991). The two genera nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) and granulovirus (GV), within the family Baculoviridae, are identified by occlusion body morphology with single (GV) and multiple (NPV) virions occluded in granules or polyhedra respectively. Baculoviruses are regarded as safe and selective insecticides, but although they have been used successfully for management of a number of agricultural and forestry pests (Federici, 1999; Moscardi, 1999), their use as microbial pesticides has not met their potential. Two of the main reasons for their limited use are the slow speed of kill of the targeted pest relative to classical chemical insecticides, and a narrow host range that may exclude many of the pest species found on a given crop. Genetic engineering has been used successfully to improve the speed of kill of baculovirus insecticides (Harrison and Bonning, 2000a; van Beek and Hughes, 1998). The baculovirus Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) optimized by genetic engineering for improved insecticidal efficacy has shown performance under field conditions comparable to that of classical chemical insecticides (Black et al., 1997; Treacy, 1997; Treacy et al., 2000; DuPont, 1996).

Genetic Enhancement of Baculovirus Insecticides

The kill times of two viruses infectious to the heliothine pest complex indigenous to Texas cotton have been significantly reduced by expressing a scorpion toxin gene. Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) and Helicoverpa zea NPV express the toxin only in permissive lepidopteran hosts. The toxin, however, could indirectly harm members of upper trophic levels that feed upon and parasitize infected larvae producing the toxin. In this study, the effects of recombinant and wild-type viruses on Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) were studied in cotton using Heliothis virescens (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as hosts. Two recombinant viruses, their two wild-type progenitor viruses, and untreated cotton served as the five treatments of study. Larvae were previously parasitized 2 and 4 d before being confined for 72 h to cotton terminals treated with field rates of virus or left untreated. The sexes of adult M. croceipes that emerged from the recovered H. virescens larvae were determined and their head capsule widths were measured. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) searched their extracts for virus DNA. There were no differences in percentage emergence and sex ratios of parasitoids among recombinant, wild-type, and control treatments. Significantly more wasps emerged from the 4-d cohort, but these wasps were significantly smaller than wasps from the 2-d cohort regardless of treatment. Finally, PCR found only 15–25% of the recovered H. virescens larvae and none of the emergent M. croceipes had detectable levels of viral DNA. Recombinant and wild-type viruses had a similar, minimal impact on emergent wasps, and the probability of virus dispersal via parasitoids is low in the system tested.

Impact of recombinant baculovirus field applications on a nontarget heliothine parasitoid, Microplitis croceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

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Impact of recombinant baculovirus field applications on a nontarget heliothine parasitoid, Microplitis croceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).