Authors: Javier Gordon Ogembo Barbara L Caoili Masamitsu Shikata Sudawan Chaeychomsri Michihiro Kobayashi Motoko Ikeda
Publish Date: 2009/07/26
Volume: 39, Issue: 2, Pages: 261-272
Abstract
A newly cloned Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus HearNPV from Kenya HearNPVNNg1 has a higher insecticidal activity than HearNPVG4 which also exhibits lower insecticidal activity than HearNPVC1 In the search for genes and/or nucleotide sequences that might be involved in the observed virulence differences among Helicoverpa spp NPVs the entire genome of NNg1 was sequenced and compared with previously sequenced genomes of G4 C1 and Helicoverpa zea singlenucleocapsid NPV Hz The NNg1 genome was 132425 bp in length with a total of 143 putative open reading frames ORFs and shared high levels of overall amino acid and nucleotide sequence identities with G4 C1 and Hz Three NNg1 ORFs ORF5 ORF100 and ORF124 which were shared with C1 were absent in G4 and Hz while NNg1 and C1 were missing a homologue of G4/Hz ORF5 Another three ORFs ORF60 brob ORF119 and ORF120 and one direct repeat sequence dr were unique to NNg1 Relative to the overall nucleotide sequence identity lower sequence identities were observed between NNg1 hrs and the homologous hrs in the other three Helicoverpa spp NPVs despite containing the same number of hrs located at essentially the same positions on the genomes Differences were also observed between NNg1 and each of the other three Helicoverpa spp NPVs in the diversity of bro genes encoded on the genomes These results indicate several putative genes and nucleotide sequences that may be responsible for the virulence differences observed among Helicoverpa spp yet the specific genes and/or nucleotide sequences responsible have not been identifiedWe would like to thank Dr T Yaginuma and Dr T Niimi of the Laboratory of Sericulture and Entomoresources Nagoya University Japan for their helpful discussion during this study JGO was a recipient of a scholarship from the Ministry of Education Science Sports and Culture of Japan BLC was supported by the Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JSPS This work was supported by the JSPSNRCT Joint Research Program between Japan and Thailand and in part by GrantsinAid 19208006 20380034 from the JSPS
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