Construction of a Baculovirus Hyphantria cunea NPV Insecticide Containing the Insecticidal Protein Gene of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD1

Baculovirus Hyphantrin. cunea nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HcNPV) insecticide containing the insecticidal protein (ICP) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD1 was constructed using a lacZ-HcNPV system. The ICP ($\delta$-endotoxin) gene was placed under the control of the polyhedrin gene promoter of the HcNPV. A polyhedrin-negative virus was derived and named ICP-HcNPV insecticide. Then, the insertion of the ICP gene in the ICP-HcNPV genome was confirmed by Southern hybridization analysis. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis of the Spodoptera frugiperda cell extracts infected with the ICP-HcNPV showed that the ICP was expressed in the insect cells as 130 kDa at 5 days post-infection. The ICP produced in the cells was present in aggregates. When extracts from the cells infected with the ICP-HcNPV were fed to 20 Bombyx mori larvae, the following mortality rate was seen; 8 larvae at 1 h, 10 larvae at 3 h, and 20 larvae at 12 h. These data indicate that the B. thuringiensis ICP gene was expressed by the baculovirus insecticide in insect cells and there was a high insecticidal activity. The biological activities of the recombinant virus ICP-HcNPV were assessed in conventional bioassay tests by feeding virus particles and ICP to the insect larvae. The initial baculovirus insecticide ICP-HcNPV was developed in our laboratory and the significance of the genetically engineered virus insecticides is discussed.