Abstract
During
Lymantria dispar multinucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (LdMNPV) replication in cell culture, few-polyhedra (FP) mutants arise at a high frequency and become predominant after only a few serial passages. The formation of LdMNPV FP mutants was an impediment to successful production of polyhedra in cell culture bioreactors. We have isolated and characterized a strain of LdMNPV, termed 122b, that did not accumulate FP mutants after extended serial passage in cell culture. Wild-type virus strains exhibited decreased polyhedra production and increased budded virus (BV) release, and FP mutants were the predominant virus type present after only a few serial passages in
L. dispar 652Y cells. In contrast, isolate 122b exhibited stable polyhedra and BV production through 14 serial passages.
Keywords
baculovirus,
Lymantria dispar nucleopolyhedrovirus,
few-polyhedra mutant,
cell culture,
stable polyhedra production,
Lymantria dispar,
biological control
Citation
Slavicek, James M.; Hayes-Plazolles, Nancy; Kelly, Mary Ellen. 2001. Identification of a
Lymantria dispar nucleopolyhedrovirus isolate that does not accumulate few-polyhedra mutants during extended serial passage in cell culture. Biological Control. 22: 159-168.