Identification of Loci Associated with Enhanced Virulence in Spodoptera litura Nucleopolyhedrovirus Isolates Using Deep Sequencing.

ABSTRACT: Spodoptera litura is an emerging pest insect in cotton and arable crops in Central Asia. To explore the possibility of using baculoviruses as biological control agents instead of chemical pesticides, in a previous study we characterized a number of S. litura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) isolates from Pakistan. We found significant differences in speed of kill, an important property of a biological control agent. Here we set out to understand the genetic basis of these differences in speed of kill, by comparing the genome of the fast-killing SpltNPV-Pak-TAX1 isolate with that of the slow-killing SpltNPV-Pak-BNG isolate. These two isolates and the SpltNPV-G2 reference strain from China were deep sequenced with Illumina. As expected, the two Pakistani isolates were closely related wi

SUBMITTER: Zwart MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6783950 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature