Open reading frame 60 of the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus plays a role in budded virus production.
Open reading frame 60 (bm60) of the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a conserved gene among group I and some group II NPVs. bm60 encodes a late expressed protein that localizes to both the cytoplasm and nucleus of infected cells. This paper describes the characterization of a BmNPV mutant (vbm60-Null) lacking functional bm60. It was observed that the production of budded virus (BV) was reduced by nearly an order of magnitude relative to wt virus in vbm60-Null-infected BmN cells and B. mori larvae. Quantitative real-time PCR assay showed that the viral DNA replication was affected in infected cells due to disruption of bm60. Larval bioassays showed that the speed of kill of vbm60-Null virus was greatly reduced, as it took approximately 28-36 h longer to kill the fifth instar B. mori larvae. These results suggest that BmNPV bm60 is not essential for viral replication, but required for efficient BV production.
Guo
Zhong-Jian
ZJ
Institute of Life Science and School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu, PR China.
Qiu
Li-Hua
LH
An
Shi-Heng
SH
Yao
Qin
Q
Park
Enoch Y
EY
Chen
Ke-Ping
KP
Zhang
Chuan-Xi
CX
D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000821:virology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017353:Gene Deletion; D007814:Larva / Q000821:virology; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication
D014764:Viral Proteins