Protein composition of the occlusion bodies of Epinotia aporema granulovirus

Within family Baculoviridae, members of the Betabaculovirus genus are employed as biocontrol agents against lepidopteran pests, either alone or in combination with selected members of the Alphabaculovirus genus. Epinotia aporema granulovirus (EpapGV) is a fast killing betabaculovirus that infects the bean shoot borer (E. aporema) and is a promising biopesticide. Because occlusion bodies (OBs) play a key role in baculovirus horizontal transmission, we investigated the composition of EpapGV OBs. Using mass spectrometry-based proteomics we could identify 56 proteins that are included in the OBs during the final stages of larval infection. Our data provides experimental validation of several annotated hypothetical coding sequences. Proteogenomic mapping against genomic sequence detected a previously unannotated ac110-like core gene and a putative translation fusion product of ORFs epap48 and epap49. Comparative studies of the proteomes available for the family Baculoviridae highlight the conservation of core gene products as parts of the occluded virion. Two proteins specific for betabaculoviruses (Epap48 and Epap95) are incorporated into OBs. Moreover, quantification based on emPAI values showed that Epap95 is one of the most abundant components of EpapGV OBs.

Biology and morphometrics of the immature stages of Epinotia aporema on artificial diet

The objective of this work was to establish a life table for the immature stages of Epinotia aporema, as part of a wider investigation on its biological control. Insects were reared on an artificial diet at 25±1ºC and a 16:8 (light:dark) hour photoperiod. For the identification of larval instars for the study of pathogen-insect interactions under laboratory conditions, head capsule widths (HCWs) were also determined. The egg incubation period was 4.13±0.30 days, larval stage took 11.64±0.49 days, and the development time of the pupal phase was sex-dependent with 8.51±0.69 days for the females and 9.41±0.65 days for the males. Five larval instars were identified.

Caracterización biológica y molecular de genes involucrados en la virulencia de baculovirus de importancia agronómica

Objetivo general de la tesis: Caracterización biológica y molecular de genes involucrados en la virulencia de baculovirus y utilización de los mismos para el mejoramiento genético de virus de importancia agronómica en nuestro país. Objetivos particulares: • Evaluación de la interacción de los virus de EpapGV y AgMNPV en mezclas virales aplicadas sobre larvas de Anticarsia gemmatalis y Epinotia aporema. • Identificación, clonado, secuenciación y estudio funcional de genes de EpapGV relacionados con la virulencia y con posible actividad potenciadora de la infección. • Generación de virus recombinantes (rAcMNPV y AgMNPV) que expresen genes candidatos para el mejoramiento genético de su eficacia insecticida.