Discovery and characterization of a novel picorna-like RNA virus in the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera

Xianming Yang, Pengjun Xu, He Yuan, Robert I. Graham, Kenneth Wilson, Kongming Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We characterize a novel picorna-like virus, named Helicoverpa armigera Nora virus (HaNV), with a genome length of 11,200 nts, the sequence of which was isolated from the lepidopteran host cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera, using RNA-Seq. Phylogenetic analysis, using the putative amino acid sequence of the conserved RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) domain, indicated that HaNV clustered with Spodoptera exigua Nora virus, Drosophila Nora virus and Nasonia vitripennis virus-3 with a high bootstrap value (100%), which might indicate a new viral family within the order Picornavirales. HaNV was efficiently horizontally transmitted between hosts via contaminated food, and transmission was found to be dose-dependent (up to 100% efficiency with 109 viral copy number/µl). HaNV was also found to be transmitted vertically from parent to offspring, mainly through transovum transmission (virus contamination on the surface of the eggs), but having a lower transmission efficiency (around 43%). Infection distribution within the host was also investigated, with HaNV mainly found in only the gut of both adult moths and larvae (>90%). Moreover, our results showed that HaNV appears not to be an overtly pathogenic virus to its host.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
JournalJournal of Invertebrate Pathology
Volume160
DOIs
Publication statusPrint publication - Jan 2019
Externally publishedYes

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