Expression of a Foreign Gene in Four Species of Lepidopterous Insects Using a Baculovirus Vector

Abstract

We prepared a recombinant Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus by substituting a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene for the polyhedrin with pAcYMI transfer vector. Cultured cells of Spodoptera frugiperda infected with the recombinant virus revealed high CAT activity after 24 hr postinoculation (pi). The viral titer in the culture medium rapidly increased during 12 to 24 hr pi and then reached to the maximum level. Injection of the recombinant virus into four species of lepidopterous larvae, Spodoptera litura, Bomhyx mori, Mamestra brassicae and Pseudaletia separata, evoked an expression of the recombinant CAT gene but with different patterns in each case. Viral growth patterns in the four species suggested that the different multiplication rates of the recombinant virus in each insect affected the gene expression pattern. © 1994, Pesticide Science Society of Japan. All rights reserved.