Densovirus

Abstract: Parvoviridae, a diverse family of small single-stranded DNA viruses was established in 1975. It was divided into two subfamilies, Parvovirinae and Densovirinae, in 1993 to accommodate parvoviruses that infect vertebrate and invertebrate animals, respectively. This relatively straightforward segregation, using host association as the prime criterion for subfamily-level classification, has recently been challenged by the discovery of divergent, vertebrate-infecting parvoviruses, dubbed “chapparvoviruses”, which have proven to be more closely related to viruses in certain Densovirinae genera than to members of the Parvovirinae. Viruses belonging to these genera, namely Brevi-, Hepan- and Penstyldensovirus, are responsible for the unmatched heterogeneity of the subfamily Densovirinae when compared to the Parvovirinae in matters of genome organization, protein sequence homology, and phylogeny. Another genus of Densovirinae, Ambidensovirus, has challenged traditional parvovirus classification, as it includes all newly discovered densoviruses with an ambisense genome organization, which introduces genus-level paraphyly. Lastly, current taxon definition and virus inclusion criteria have significantly limited the classification of certain long-discovered parvoviruses and impedes the classification of some potential family members discovered using high-throughput sequencing methods. Here, we present a new and updated system for parvovirus classification, which includes the introduction of a third subfamily, Hamaparvovirinae, resolves the paraphyly within genus Ambidensovirus, and introduces new genera and species into the subfamily Parvovirinae. These proposals were accepted by the ICTV in 2020 March.

Abstract: Mutualistic associations between symbiotic bacteria and their hosts are common within insect systems. However, viruses are often considered as pathogens even though some have been reported to be beneficial to their hosts. Herein, we report a novel densovirus, Helicoverpa armigera densovirus-1 (HaDNV-1) that appears to be beneficial to its host. HaDNV-1 was found to be widespread in wild populations of H. armigera adults (>67% prevalence between 2008 and 2012). In wild larval populations, there was a clear negative interaction between HaDNV-1 and H. armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaNPV), a baculovirus that is widely used as a biopesticide. Laboratory bioassays revealed that larvae hosting HaDNV-1 had significantly enhanced resistance to HaNPV (and lower viral loads), and that resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin was also higher at low doses. Laboratory assays indicated that the virus was mainly distributed in the fat body, and could be both horizontally- and vertically-transmitted, though the former occurred only at large challenge doses. Densovirus-positive individuals developed more quickly and had higher fecundity than uninfected insects. We found no evidence for a negative effect of HaDNV-1 infection on H. armigera fitness-related traits, strongly suggesting a mutualistic interaction between the cotton bollworm and its densovirus.

Abstract: Bombyx mori densovirus (BmDNV-1), on the basis of the previously reported genome sequence, constitutes by itself a separate genus (Iteravirus) within the Densovirinae subfamily of parvoviruses. Inconsistencies in the genome organization, however, necessitated its reassessment. The genome sequence of new clones was determined and resulted in a completely different genome organization. The corrected sequence also contained conserved sequence motifs found in other parvoviruses. Some amino acids in the highly conserved domain in the unique region of VP1 were shared by critical amino acids in the catalytic site and Ca2+-binding loop of secreted phospholipase A2, such as from snake and bee venoms. Expression of this domain and determination of enzyme activity demonstrated that capsids have a phospholipase A2 activity thus far unknown to occur in viruses. This viral phospholipase A2, which is required shortly after entry into the cell, showed a substrate preference for phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine over phosphatidylinositol.