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Date of Award
9-2009
Access Type
Campus Access
Document type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences
First Advisor
John P. Burand
Second Advisor
Stephen M. Rich
Third Advisor
Geunhwa Jung
Subject Categories
Entomology | Virology
Abstract
The genome of Hz-2V, which is sexually transmitted and causes sterility of Helicoverpa zea moths, was sequenced. It is composed of 231,621 bases with G+C content of 41.9%, and contains 113 putative open reading frames (ORFs). Homologies were found to 38 of the 113 ORFs predicted for genes with known functions. Hz-2V shares 16 of the 30 baculovirus conserved core genes, including RNA polymerase genes, andper os infectivity factor genes. Partially conserved baculovirus core cluster structure was found in Hz-2V suggests that the Hz-2V is distantly related to baculovirus. Interstingly, Hz-2V showed 93.5% of sequence homology with Hz-1V and with other nudiviruses, hytrosaviruses, and polydnaviruses. Based on the genome sequencing results, an analysis of structural proteins and prediction of putative microRNAs of Hz-2V was performed. Four of structural genes, p11.7, p15.1, p28.4, and p31.7 were identified by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. Two transmembrane domains were predicted in p11.7, and a DNA binding motif was found in p31.7 by amino acid sequence analysis, therefore p11.7 and p31.7 were predicted to be envelope and capsid protein, respectively. A putative late gene promoter motif sequence, AGTAT was found in the 3' upstream sequences of these genes. Twenty putative pre-microRNA sequences were predicted in Hz-2V by searching stem-loop structures with less than -25kcal/mol of free energy, and one of the microRNA candidates was predicted to target the Hz2V007 gene transcript, which codes for a putative juvenile hormone esterase.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/5659317
Recommended Citation
Kim, Woojin, "Characterization Of Genome And Structural Proteins Of The Sexually Transmitted Insect Virus, Hz-2V" (2009). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 107.
https://doi.org/10.7275/5659317
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/107