First Evidence of Past and Present Interactions between Viruses and the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens.

ABSTRACT: Black soldier flies (BSFs, Hermetia illucens) are becoming a prominent research model encouraged by the insect as food and feed and waste bioconversion industries. Insect mass-rearing facilities are at risk from the spread of viruses, but so far, none have been described in BSFs. To fill this knowledge gap, a bioinformatic approach was undertaken to discover viruses specifically associated with BSFs. First, BSF genomes were screened for the presence of endogenous viral elements (EVEs). This led to the discovery and mapping of seven orthologous EVEs integrated into three BSF genomes originating from five viral families. Secondly, a virus discovery pipeline was used to screen BSF transcriptomes. This led to detecting a new exogenous totivirus that we named hermetia illucens totivirus

SUBMITTER: Pienaar RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9231314 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature