title: A viral caspase contributes to modified apoptosis for virus transmission.
abstract: The Spodoptera frugiperda ascovirus, a DNA virus that attacks lepidopterans, codes for an executioner caspase synthesized by 9 h after infection of Sf21 cells. This caspase alone induces apoptosis in insect cells and, during viral replication in vivo, contributes to a novel cell cleavage process in which developing apoptotic bodies are rescued by the virus and differentiate to form large vesicles in which virions assemble. These viral vesicles disseminate to the blood, where they are acquired during egg-laying by parasitic wasps that transmit the virus. No other viruses encode caspases or form such modified apoptotic bodies, suggesting this caspase plays a direct role in cell partitioning that facilitates viral reproduction and transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Bideshi
authors.forename: Yeping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bigot
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Federici
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D029223:Ascoviridae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D053148:Caspase 3; D053179:Caspase 7; D020169:Caspases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D018411:Spodoptera / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000502:physiology; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505520:CASP7 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D053179:Caspase 7; D020169:Caspases