Authors: UMUT TOPRAK, M. OKTAY GÜRKAN
Abstract: Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important pest in Turkey and causes extensive economic losses in many cultivated crops. The viruses within the family Baculoviridae are specific pathogens of insects. The nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs), 1 of the 2 genera of this family, have been isolated from many insect orders, primarily from the lepidopterans. In our study, a local NPV was isolated from the larvae of Spodoptera littoralis fed in the cotton fields in southern Turkey (Mersin). For the molecular identification of the virus, polyhedra (occlusion bodies [OBs]) were isolated from insects and total DNA extraction was performed using a commercial kit from OBs. One of the genes involved in late gene expression found in the SpliNPV genome, lef-8, was partially amplified by PCR. Nucleotide sequence analysis of this region was performed by MWG (Ebersberg, Germany). According to the nucleotide sequences of partial lef-8, searches carried out with the updated GenBanks showed that the isolate was a Spodoptera littoralis NPV-B variant. This NPV was the fifth SpliNPV-B variant isolated worldwide and was named SpliNPV-TR1 isolate as it is the first record in Turkey of a NPV isolated from Spodoptera littoralis.
Keywords: Baculovirus, NPV, Spodoptera littoralis, lef-8, PCR, Nucleotide sequence analysis
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