Canadian Forest Service Publications
A polydnavirus from the spruce budworm parasitoid, Tranosema rostrale (Ichneumonidae) 1998. Cusson, M.; Lucarotti, C.J.; Stoltz, D.; Krell, P.J.; Doucet, D. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 72: 50-56.
Year: 1998
Issued by: Laurentian Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 6028
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
The calyx epithelium of the campoplegine wasp, Tranosema rostrale, contains typical ichneumonid polydnaviruses (PVs) that display an apparently uncommon association with the egg chorion. The latter structure features fine hair-like projections, longest around the egg’s apices. In the lumen of the ovary, T. rostrale virus becomes lodged between these projections and forms a particulate coat around the egg. In the host, Choristoneura fumiferana, projections and associated virions are observed in close contact with basement membranes of fat body and muscle tissues, to which the eggs rapidly become attached following introduction into the host hemocoel. We discuss the implications of this unusual virus-chorion association in terms of immune protection, delivery of virus to specific host tissues, and the evolution of PVs.