title: A caspase-like gene from Heliothis virescens ascovirus (HvAV-3e) is not involved in apoptosis but is essential for virus replication.
abstract: Ascoviruses (AVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses causing a fatal disease in lepidopteran host larvae. A unique feature of AV infection is cleavage of host cells into membrane bound vesicles containing the virions. A recent study showed that a caspase from Spodoptera frugiperda AV (SfAV) is directly involved in initiation of apoptosis and eventually cell cleavage. Results shown here indicate that Heliothis virescens AV does not induce apoptosis in host cells. HvAV codes for a caspase-like protein but no apoptosis was observed when the gene was expressed in vitro. RNAi studies indicated that the gene is essential for virus replication.
authors.affiliation: School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. s.asgari@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Sassan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asgari
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D029223:Ascoviridae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D020169:Caspases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D020868:Gene Silencing; D020043:Genes, Essential; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D034622:RNA Interference; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D018411:Spodoptera; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D020169:Caspases