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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Biological Control of Insects Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #59421
Title: SOUTHERN HYBRIDIZATION OF BACULOVIRUSES EMPLOYING NONRADIOACTIVE RANDOM PRIMED DNA PROBES

Author
item Grasela, James
item McIntosh, Arthur

Submitted to: Annual Meeting Central States Entomological Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The recent development of nonradioactive compounds, such as the s hapten digoxigenin, to label DNA probes permits researchers to use a safe, relatively inexpensive method to determine genetic similarity between different species or, as in this present study, genetic similarity among baculoviruses that play an important role as infectious biological agents in the suppression of insect pest populations. Knowing the genetic similarity among different viruses is important to determine if one is actually dealing with a related or different virus and also to better understand the observed differences in the host range and susceptibility of viruses. We describe a Southern blot analysis of Hind III restriction endonuclease patterns among seven baculoviruses employing nonradiolabeled random primed DNA probes. DNA samples were prepared from the multiple nuclear polyhedrosis viruses of Autographa californica (AcMNPV), Anticarsia agemmatalis (AgMNPV), Helicoverpa armigera (HaMNPV), Spodoptera frugiperda (SfMNPV), Spodoptera ornithogalli (SoMNPV), Syngrapha falcifera (SfaMNPV), and the single nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Heliothis zea (HzSNPV). The DNA of these baculoviruses were probed with one of the following baculovirus DNA labels: AcMNPV, SfaMNPV, and AgMNPV wildtypes (wt) and a clone of AgMNPV designated AgMNPV-CL4-3A1. The AcMNPV probe strongly hybridized with AcMNPV and SfaMNPV and to a lesser extent with AgMNPV and AgMNPV-CL4-3A1. However, the SfaMNPV probe not only hybridized with AcMNPV and AgMNPV-CL4-3A1 but also to some extent with HzSNPV. Reciprocal blots with AgMNPV and AgMNPV-CL4-3A1 probes strongly hybridized each other as well as SfaMNPV and AcMNPV and to lesser degrees with the other viruses.