TC14.7 - A NOVEL LEPIDOPTERAN TRANSPOSON FOUND IN CYDIA-POMONELLA GRANULOSIS-VIRUS

Citation
Ja. Jehle et al., TC14.7 - A NOVEL LEPIDOPTERAN TRANSPOSON FOUND IN CYDIA-POMONELLA GRANULOSIS-VIRUS, Virology, 207(2), 1995, pp. 369-379
Citations number
44
Categorie Soggetti
Virology
Journal title
ISSN journal
00426822
Volume
207
Issue
2
Year of publication
1995
Pages
369 - 379
Database
ISI
SICI code
0042-6822(1995)207:2<369:T-ANLT>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
After the co-infection of larvae of the lepidopteran Cryptophlebia leu cotreta with the two baculoviruses C. leucotreta granulosis virus and Cydia pomonella granulosis virus (CIGV and CpGV, respectively), three CpGV mutants and one CIGV mutant carrying insertions of 0.9 to 4.7 kb have been isolated. By cloning, sequencing, and hybridization analysis , one of these insertions was identified as a transposon-like element derived from the C. leucotreta genome. This element, called TCl4.7, wa s found in the genome of CpGV which naturally replicates in C. pomonel la. Sequence analysis suggested that TCl4.7 is 4726 bp in size, flanke d by imperfect inverted terminal repeats of 29 bp, and integrated into the target dinucleotide TA. TCl4.7 encompasses an open reading frame sharing homologies to transposase genes of the Tc1-related transposabl e elements found in Caenorhabditis and in Drosophila species. The open reading frame might represent a pseudogene since it is missing an ATG start codon. The integration site of TCl4.7 is located in a non-prote in-coding region of the CpGV genome at m.u. 9.5, In bioassays the TCl4 .7-carrying virus and all the other mutants except for one showed LC(5 0) values similar to those of CpGV and CIGV. This is the first report of the horizontal escape of a transposable element during the in vivo infection of lepidopteran larvae by granulosis viruses. (C) 1995 Acade mic Press, Inc.