title: Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus serially passaged in cell culture.
abstract: Rapid accumulation of few polyhedra (FP) mutants was detected during serial passaging of Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaSNPV) in cell culture. 100% FP infected cells were observed by passage 6. The specific yield decreased from 178 polyhedra per cell at passage 2 to two polyhedra per cell at passage 6. The polyhedra at passage 6 were not biologically active, with a 28-fold reduction in potency compared to passage 3. Electron microscopy studies revealed that very few polyhedra were produced in an FP infected cell (<10 polyhedra per section) and in most cases these polyhedra contained no virions. A specific failure in the intranuclear nucleocapsid envelopment process in the FP infected cells, leading to the accumulation of naked nucleocapsids, was observed. Genomic restriction endonuclease digestion profiles of budded virus DNA from all passages did not indicate any large DNA insertions or deletions that are often associated with such FP phenotypes for the extensively studied Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus and Galleria mellonella nucleopolyhedrovirus. Within an HaSNPV 25K FP gene homologue, a single base-pair insertion (an adenine residue) within a region of repetitive sequences (seven adenine residues) was identified in one plaque-purified HaSNPV FP mutant. Furthermore, the sequences obtained from individual clones of the 25K FP gene PCR products of a late passage revealed point mutations or single base-pair insertions occurring throughout the gene. The mechanism of FP mutation in HaSNPV is likely similar to that seen for Lymantria dispar nucleopolyhedrovirus, involving point mutations or small insertions/deletions of the 25K FP gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia1.
authors.forename: Linda H L
authors.initials: LHL
authors.lastname: Lua
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia1.
authors.forename: Marcia R S
authors.initials: MRS
authors.lastname: Pedrini
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia1.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia2.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia2.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Tribe
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005838:Genotype; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D009154:Mutation; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D012692:Serial Passage