INVESTIGADORES
VARONE Laura
artículos
Título:
Discovery and molecular characterization of an ambisense densovirus from South American populations of Solenopsis invicta
Autor/es:
VALLES, STEVEN; SHOEMAKER, DEWAYNE; WURMB, YANNICK; STRONG, CHARLES A.; VARONE, LAURA; BECNEL, JAMES J.; SHIRK, PAUL D.
Revista:
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
Editorial:
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 67 p. 431 - 439
ISSN:
1049-9644
Resumen:
In an effort to discover viruses as classical biological control agents, a metatranscriptomics/pyrosequencing
approach was used to survey native Solenopsis invicta collected exclusively in Argentina. A new virus
was discovered with characteristics consistent with the family Parvoviridae, subfamily Densovirinae. The
virus, tentatively named Solenopsis invicta densovirus (SiDNV), represents the first DNA virus discovered
in ants (Formicidae) and the first densovirus in a hymenopteran insect. The ambisense genome was 5280
nucleotides in length and the termini possessed asymmetrically positioned inverted terminal repeats,
formed hairpin loops, and had transcriptional regulatory elements including CAAT and TATA sites. Phylogenetic
analysis revealed that SiDNV belongs to a group that includes two other densoviruses found in
insects (Acheta domestica densovirus and Planococcus citri densovirus). SiDNV was prevalent in fire ants
from Argentina but completely absent in fire ants found in the USA indicating that this virus has potential
for biological control of introduced S. invicta.