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Further enhancement of baculovirus insecticidal efficacy with scorpion toxins that interact cooperatively
Author(s) -
Regev Avital,
Rivkin Hadassah,
Inceoglu Bora,
Gershburg Eduard,
Hammock Bruce D.,
Gurevitz Michael,
Chejanovsky Nor
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)00104-2
Subject(s) - heliothis virescens , autographa californica , helicoverpa armigera , sf9 , spodoptera littoralis , toxin , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , scorpion toxin , depressant , scorpion venoms , recombinant dna , venom , spodoptera , toxicology , virology , scorpion , pharmacology , larva , botany , noctuidae , biochemistry , gene
We have studied whether the cooperative insecticidal effect of certain scorpion toxin pairs, namely either a combination of excitatory and depressant, or alpha and depressant scorpion toxins, would improve the efficacy of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) over a virus expressing only a single toxin, towards Heliothis virescens , Helicoverpa armigera , and Spodoptera littoralis larvae. The best result was achieved by combined expression of the excitatory toxin, LqhIT1, and the depressant toxin, LqhIT2, that provided an ET 50 value of 46.9 h on H. virescens neonates, an improvement of 40% over the efficacy of wild‐type AcMNPV, and of 18% and 22% over baculoviruses that express each of the toxins independently. These results demonstrate that significant improvement in efficacy of recombinant baculoviruses is obtainable with toxins that exhibit a cooperative effect, and may contribute to employ baculoviruses to replace hazardous chemicals in insect control.