Isolation and Characterization of a Lymantria dispar Multinucleocapsid Nucleopolyhedrovirus Isolate in Korea

Abstract

In Korea, a Lymantria dispar multinucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus, LdMNPV-NM, was isolated and characterized from dead L. dispar larvae. The polyhedra of LdMNPV-NM were irregularly shaped with a diameter of 1.62±0.33 μm. Numerous virions comprised of the multinucleocapsid were evident in the electron microscopic examination of the polyhedra cross sections. These polyhedra were composed of a major protein of 30 kDa. The restriction enzyme digestion patterns of LdMNPV-NM showed that this isolate had some different fragments from those of the Gypchek® LdMNPV isolate, although their overall profiles were similar. The deduced amino acid sequence of the enhancin gene of LdMNPV-NM showed differences when compared to previously reported enhancin genes of other LdMNPV strains. These results suggested that the LdMNPV-NM isolate from Korea was a new NPV strain and had a new enhancin gene.