Baculovirus Enhancins and Their Role in Viral Pathogenicity

Baculoviruses are a large group of viruses pathogenic to arthropods, primarily insects from the order Lepidoptera and also insects in the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera (Moscardi 1999; Herniou & Jehle, 2007). Baculoviruses have been used to control insect pests on agricultural crops and forests around the world (Moscardi, 1999; Szewczk et al., 2006, 2009; Erlandson 2008). Efforts have been ongoing for the last two decades to develop strains of baculoviruses with greater potency or other attributes to decrease the cost of their use through a lower cost of production or application. Early efforts focused on the insertion of foreign genes into the genomes of baculoviruses that would increase viral killing speed for use to control agricultural insect pests (Black et al., 1997; Bonning & Hammock, 1996). More recently, research efforts have focused on viral genes that are involved in the initial and early processes of infection and host factors that impede successful infection (Rohrmann, 2011). The enhancins are proteins produced by some baculoviruses that are involved in one of the earliest events of host infection. This article provides a review of baculovirus enhancins and their role in the earliest phases of viral infection.