The genome of the Neodiprion sertifer nucleopolyhedrovirus (NeseNPV), which infects the European pine sawfly, N. sertifer (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae), was sequenced and analyzed. The genome was 86,462 bp in size. The C؉G content of 34% was lower than that of the majority of baculoviruses. A total of 90 methionineinitiated open reading frames (ORFs) with more than 50 amino acids and minimal overlapping were found. From those, 43 ORFs were homologous to other baculovirus ORFs, and 29 of these were from the 30 conserved core genes among all baculoviruses. A NeseNPV homolog to the ld130 gene, which is present in all other baculovirus genomes sequenced to date, could not be identified. Six NeseNPV ORFs were similar to non-baculovirus-related genes, one of which was a trypsin-like gene. Only one iap gene, containing a single BIR motif and a RING finger, was found in NeseNPV. Two NeseNPV ORFs (nese18 and nese19) were duplicates transcribed in opposite orientations from each other. NeseNPV did not have an AcMNPV ORF 2 homolog characterized as the baculovirus repeat ORF (bro). Six homologous regions (hrs) were located within the NeseNPV genome, each containing small palindromes embedded within direct repeats. A phylogenetic analysis was done to root the tree based upon the sequences of DNA polymerase genes of NeseNPV, 23 other baculoviruses, and other phyla. Baculovirus phylogeny was then constructed with 29 conserved genes from 24 baculovirus genomes. Culex nigripalpus nucleopolyhedrovirus (CuniNPV) was the most distantly related baculovirus, branching to the hymenopteran NeseNPV and the lepidopteran nucleopolyhedroviruses and granuloviruses.

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Dense populations of extracellular bacteria were detected in midgut crypts of the southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barber (Hemiptera: Blissidae). Examination by epifluorescent and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the bacteria covered the luminal surface of the crypts and filled the entire lumen. Attempts to culture the extracellular endosymbionts in various media failed. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene clones obtained from insects of five Florida populations showed high nucleotide homology to either betaproteobacterial Burkholderia spp. (243 clones from five populations) or gammaproteobacterial Pseudomonas spp. (58 clones from one population). Using Burkholderia‐specific primers, bacteria were detected in the egg, nymph, and adult stages. Fluorescent in situ hybridization with genus‐specific oligonucleotide probes confirmed the localization of Burkholderia in the crypts. Quantitative real‐time PCR showed that antibiotic treatments of nymphs significantly reduced the amount of Burkholderia 16S rRNA gene copies in chinch bugs sampled 11 days after the treatment. Furthermore, these treatments resulted in retarded development and high mortality of B. insularis, indicating a beneficial impact of Burkholderia on its host.

The genome of Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus isolate 2D (AgMNPV-2D), which is the most extensively used virus pesticide in the world, was completely sequenced and shown to have 132 239 bp (G+C content 44?5 mol%) and to be capable of encoding 152 non-overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). Three ORFs were unique to AgMNPV-2D, one of which (ag31) had similarity to eukaryotic poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases. The lack of chiA and v-cath may explain some of the success and growth of the AgMNPV biological control programme, as it may explain the high recovery of polyhedra sequestered inside dead larvae in the field, which are collected and used for further application as biological pesticides in soybean fields. The genome organization was similar to that of the Choristoneura fumiferana defective MNPV (CfDefNPV). Most of the variation between the two genomes took place near highly repetitive regions, which were also closely associated with bro-coding regions. The separation of the NPVs into groups I and II was supported by: (i) a phenogram of the complete genomes of 28 baculovirus and Heliothis zea virus 1, (ii) the most parsimonious reconstruction of gene content along the phenograms and (iii) comparisons of genomic features. Moreover, these data also reinforced the notion that group I of the NPVs can be split further into the AgMNPV lineage (AgMNPV, CfDefNPV, Epiphyas postvittana NPV, Orgyia pseudotsugata MNPV and C. fumiferana MNPV), sharing eight defining genes, and the Autographa californica MNPV (AcMNPV) lineage (AcMNPV, Rachiplusia ou NPV and Bombyx mori NPV), sharing nine defining genes.

The genome of the virus that causes salivary gland hypertrophy in Musca domestica (MdSGHV) was sequenced. This non-classified, enveloped, double stranded, circular DNA virus had a 124,279bp genome. The G + C content was 43.5% with 108 putative methionine-initiated open reading frames (ORFs). Thirty ORFs had homology to database proteins: eleven to proteins coded by both baculoviruses and nudiviruses (p74, pif-1, pif-2, pif-3, odv-e66, rr1, rr2, iap, dUTPase, MMP, and Ac81-like), seven to nudiviruses (mcp, dhfr, ts, tk and three unknown proteins), one to baculovirus (Ac150-like), one to herpesvirus (dna pol), and ten to cellular proteins. Mass spectrum analysis of the viral particles' protein components identified 29 structural ORFs, with only p74 and odv-e66 previously characterized as baculovirus structural proteins. Although most of the homology observed was to nudiviruses, phylogenetic analysis showed that MdSGHV was not closely related to them or to the baculoviruses.