Virus efficacy of recombined Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) on tea pest Ectropis obliqua

Ectropis obliqua is a major tea pest and chitin synthase (CHS) plays a key role in the pest growth and development. A 192 bp conserved domain from E. obliqua CHS gene was cloned and it was used to construct recombined Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) with double-stranded RNA interference (dsRNAi) method. The recombined AcMNPV virus could propagate in host cells sf9. Injection test showed that the virus efficacy of the recombined AcMNPV on E. obliqua larvae was significantly enhanced. It is considered that the CHS dsRNAi mediated by the nuclear polyhedrosis virus will be interesting for development of alternative bio-pesticide to control the tea pest E. obliqua.Keywords: Chitin synthase, baculovirus, double-stranded RNA interference, Ectropis obliquaAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(33), pp. 5412-5418, 16 August, 201