Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The interest in the previous Special Issues on this topic prompted us to re-open the subject for a new Special Issue. Most countries are making attempts to reduce the amount of chemical pesticides they use, but the number of tools available for controlling insect pests is still limited. Insects are major pests not only for agricultural crops but also for domestic animals and humans. Viruses offer alternatives for safe and environmentally friendly insect pest control, using various strategies. Baculoviruses have been used as biological control agents and have proven successful against various insect pests. Viruses that infect insects belonging to other families have been proposed and are under evaluation for their safety, specificity, and efficacy in the control of their insect hosts. This Special Issue aims to present the state of the art on the practical use of viruses in pest control and the new approaches under development.

Prof. Dr. Miguel López-Ferber
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

20 pages, 4176 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals a Diverse Range of Novel Viruses in Australian Sugarcane Soldier Fly (Inopus flavus) Larvae

by Gayatri Divekar, Agathe M. G. Colmant, Michael J. Furlong and Kayvan Etebari

Viruses 2024, 16(4), 516; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/v16040516 - 27 Mar 2024

Viewed by 573

Abstract

In Australia, Soldier flies (Inopus spp.) are economically significant pests of sugarcane that currently lack a viable management strategy. Despite various research efforts, the mechanisms underlying the damage caused by soldier fly larvae remain poorly understood. Our study aims to explore whether this damage is associated with the transmission of plant viruses during larval feeding. We also explore the larval transcriptome to identify any entomopathogenic viruses with the potential to be used as biocontrol agents in future pest management programs. Seven novel virus sequences are identified and characterised using de novo assembly of RNA-Seq data obtained from salivary glands of larvae. The novel virus sequences belong to different virus families and are tentatively named SF-associated anphevirus (SFaAV), SF-associated orthomyxo-like virus (SFaOV), SF-associated narna-like virus (SFaNV), SF-associated partiti-like virus (SFaPV), SF-associated toti-like virus (SFaTV-1 and SFaTV-2) and SF-associated densovirus (SFaDV). These newly identified viruses are more likely insect-associated viruses, as phylogenetic analyses show that they cluster with other insect-specific viruses. Small RNA analysis indicates prominent peaks at both 21 nt and 26–29 nt, suggesting the activation of host siRNA and piwiRNA pathways. Our study helps to improve understanding of the virome of soldier flies and could identify insect viruses for deployment in novel pest management strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insect Viruses and Pest Management, the Third Edition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1969 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bactericera cockerelli Picorna-like Virus and Three New Viruses Found Circulating in Populations of Potato/Tomato Psyllids (Bactericera cockerelli)

by Jennifer Dahan, Gardenia E. Orellana, Kaleigh B. Wald, Erik J. Wenninger, W. Rodney Cooper and Alexander V. Karasev

Viruses 2024, 16(3), 415; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/v16030415 - 08 Mar 2024

Viewed by 838

Abstract

An investigation of viruses circulating in populations of field and laboratory potato/tomato psyllids (Bactericera cockerelli) was conducted using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology and conventional RT-PCR. Three new viruses were discovered: one from the family Tymoviridae and two from the family Solemoviridae. A tymo-like virus sequence represented a nearly complete 6843 nt genome of a virus named Bactericera cockerelli tymo-like virus (BcTLV) that spanned five open reading frames (ORFs) which encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP), helicase, protease, methyltransferase, and a capsid protein. Phylogenetic analyses placed the RdRP of BcTLV inside a divergent lineage of the viruses from the family Tymoviridae found in insect and plant hosts in a sister clade to the genera Tymovirus, Marafivirus, and Maculavirus. Four solemo-like virus sequences were identified in the HTS outputs, representing two new viruses. One virus found only in field-collected psyllids and named Bactericera cockerelli solemo-like virus 1 (BcSLV-1) had a 5479 nt genome which spanned four ORFs encoding protease and RdRP. Three solemo-like sequences displayed 87.4–99.7% nucleotide sequence identity among themselves, representing variants or strains of the same virus named Bactericera cockerelli solemo-like virus 2 (BcSLV-2). The genome of BcSLV-2 spanned only two ORFs that encoded a protease and an RdRP. Phylogenetic analysis placed the RdRPs of BcSLV-1 and BcSLV-2 in two separate lineages as sister clades to viruses from the genus Sobemovirus found in plant hosts. All three new psyllid viruses were found circulating in psyllids collected from potato fields in southern Idaho along with a previously identified Bactericera cockerelli picorna-like virus. Any possible role of the three viruses in controlling populations of the field psyllids remains to be elucidated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insect Viruses and Pest Management, the Third Edition)

► Show Figures