In accordance with the Statutes of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the final stage in the process of making changes to the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification is the ratification of taxonomic proposals by ICTV Members. This can occur either at a Plenary meeting of ICTV, held during an International Congress of Virology meeting, or by circulation of proposals by mail followed by a ballot. Therefore, a list of proposals that had been subjected to the full, multi-stage review process was prepared and presented on the ICTVonline web pages in March 2008. This review process involved input from the ICTV Study Groups and Subcommittees, other interested virologists, and the ICTV Executive Committee. For the first time, the ratification process was performed entirely by email. The proposals were sent electronically via email on 18 March 2008 to ICTV Life Members (11), ICTV Subcommittee Members (74), and ICTV National Representatives (53).

Using a differential display of mRNA technique we discovered that the juvenile hormone (JH) esterase gene (Cfjhe) from Choristoneura fumiferana is directly induced by juvenile hormone I (JH I), and the JH I induction is suppressed by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E). To study the mechanism of action of these two hormones in the regulation of expression of this gene, we cloned the 1270-bp promoter region of the Cfjhe gene and identified a 30-bp region that is located between -604 and -574 and is sufficient to support both JH I induction and 20E suppression. This 30-bp region contains two conserved hormone response element half-sites separated by a 4-nucleotide spacer similar to the direct repeat 4 element and is designated as a putative juvenile hormone response element (JHRE). In CF-203 cells, a luciferase reporter placed under the control of JHRE and a minimal promoter was induced by JH I in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, 20E suppressed this JH I-induced luciferase activity in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Nuclear proteins isolated from JH I-treated CF-203 cells bound to JHRE and the binding was competed by a 100-fold excess of the cold probe but not by 100-fold excess of double-stranded oligonucleotides of unrelated sequence. JH I induced/modified nuclear proteins prior to their binding to JHRE and 20E suppressed this JH I induction/modification. These results suggest that the 30-bp JHRE identified in the Cfjhe gene promoter is sufficient to support JH induction and 20E suppression of the Cfjhe gene.

Molting is the result of the expression of a cascade of genes that is sequentially both up and down-regulated by the molting hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), which is secreted as a pulse during each instar. Benzoyl hydrazine analogs of 20E act like the native molting hormone at the molecular level by binding with the ecdysone receptor complex and transactivating a succession of molt initiating transcription factors that, in turn, induce the expression of a group of molt-related genes. As a result of the expression of these up-regulated genes, the larva undergoes apolysis and head capsule slippage and takes on the appearance of the pharate larva. However, unlike 20E, which is cleared at this juncture, allowing the down-regulated genes to be expressed, these synthetic analogs bind strongly to the receptors and remain in place and repress all the down-regulatory genes such as the ones necessary for cuticle elaboration, sclerotization, and ecdysis resulting in a developmental arrest in this state. As a result, the treated larva goes into a precocious incomplete molt that is lethal. Two of the analogs, tebufenozide and methoxyfenozide, are lepidopteran specific and have good control potential for open feeding larvae that ingest this material while a third one, halofenozide, acts on coleopteran larvae. Since they specifically act through an insect receptor complex, they have little or no effect on non-target species, making them environmentally attractive pest control agents. Some insects, however, show resistance to these analogs and this could be, inter alia, due to an ATP Binding Cassette Transporter like system that selectively pumps out the analogs.

Spruce budworm larvae (Choristoneura fumiferana) upon ingesting tebufenozide (RH-5992) stop feeding and go into a precocious, incomplete molt, leading eventually to death. Like 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), tebufenozide also acts at the receptor level and transactivates the expression of up-regulated genes but, because of its persistence, the down-regulated genes that are normally expressed in the absence of 20E are not expressed. While tebufenozide is lepidopteran-specific, an analog, RH-5849, is effective on dipterans. This is reflected in the respective effects of the two compounds on Cf-203 (C. fumiferana--203), a lepidopteran cell line and Dm-2 (Drosophila melanogaster--2), a dipteran cell line. Cf-203 cells accumulated [14C]tebufenozide and expressed CHR3 (Choristoneura hormone receptor 3), but Dm-2 cells excluded the material and did not express DHR3 (Drosophila hormone receptor 3). Using yeast ABC (ATP binding cassette) transporter mutants, we determined that PDR5 (pleiotropic drug resistance 5) was responsible for the exclusion. We discovered recently that older instars of the white-marked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma) are resistant to tebufenozide, perhaps as a result of such an exclusion system. We are currently cloning PDR5 (pleiotropic drug resistance 5), which is an essential step in studying the resistance mechanism.

The calyx epithelium of the campoplegine wasp,Tranosema rostrale, contains typical ichneumonid polydnaviruses (PVs) that display an apparently uncommon association with the egg chorion. The latter structure features fine hair-like projections, longest around the egg's apices. In the lumen of the ovary,T. rostralevirus becomes lodged between these projections and forms a particulate coat around the egg. In the host,Choristoneura fumiferana, projections and associated virions are observed in close contact with basement membranes of fat body and muscle tissues, to which the eggs rapidly become attached following introduction into the host hemocoel. We discuss the implications of this unusual virus–chorion association in terms of immune protection, delivery of virus to specific host tissues, and the evolution of PVs.

We identified four CfMNPV DNA fragments with autonomously replicating sequences (ARS) functional in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A 0.9-kb fragment which, mapped to 54.5 to 55.3 map units within EcoRI HI of the CfMNPV genome, showed the strongest ARS activity of the four. Sequence analysis of this 0.9-kb DNA segment revealed an A + T-rich region separated from a G + C-rich region by 320 bp. Although no sequence matched exactly the ARS core-consensus sequence, 13 near-matches differing by only one or two nucleotides from the core-consensus sequence, were identified. Ten near-matches were clustered within a 105-bp A + T-rich region, and were arranged as inverted repeats. A section of bent DNA structure was predicted within this region. The bent DNA, which showed temperature-dependent retardation during polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was unique as its sequence was arranged as a symmetrical 'tilde' (approximately) structure. The second (1.0 kb) and third (1.6 kb) ARS-bearing fragments mapped within EcoRI-E and -B fragments which contain homologous repeat sequences. The fourth (1.5 kb) fragment had the weakest ARS activity and mapped to the EcoRI-D or -B regions of the genome.

The organophosphorus acid hydrolases represent a distinct class of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of a variety of organophosphate substrates, including many insecticides and their structural analogues. The plasmid-borne opd gene of Pseudomonas diminuta strain MG specifies an organophosphorus acid hydrolase, a phosphotriesterase, that has been well characterized and can hydrolyze a broad spectrum of insect and mammalian neurotoxins. The in situ functioning of this enzyme in the metabolism of organophosphates has been analyzed directly in insects by transferring the opd gene into embryos of Drosophila melanogaster by P element-mediated transformation. The chromosomal locations of this stably inherited transgenic locus differed from strain to strain and demonstrated various expressivity on the whole-insect basis. Transcriptional induction of opd in one of these strains under control of the Drosophila heat shock promoter, hsp70, resulted in the synthesis of stable active enzyme that accumulated to high levels with repeated induction. The heat shock-induced synthesis of organophosphorus acid hydrolases in transgenic flies conferred enhanced resistance to toxic paralysis by the organophosphate insecticide paraoxon.

The outer capsid polypeptide, VP2, represents the major neutralizing antigen of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV). A 926-bp viral cDNA, encoding an N-terminal truncated VP2, was cloned into the pWR590 expression plasmid family resulting in a C-terminal extension of a truncated Escherichia coli β-galactosidase (βGal) under the control of the lac promoter. When cells transformed by in-phase hybrid plasmids were induced by isopropylthiogalactoside, high levels of the 100-kDa βGal-VP2 fusion protein accumulated within 4 h after induction. The fusion protein reacted in Western blots both with rabbit anti-βGal and with neutralizing mouse anti-VP2 monoclonal antibody. Sera of rabbits immunized with semipurified fusion protein reacted with the VP2 polypeptide in Western blots and with intact purified virus in ELISA and also neutralized IPNV infectivity in a plaque-reduction assay. Out-of-phase hybrid plasmids did not produce the fusion protein but expressed a small amount of structurally discrete VP2-specific sequences probably by internal initiation of translation at an in-phase AUG codon near the 5' end of the VP2 gene.

Certain strains of the braconid parasitoid Cotesia melanoscela carry two different viruses within their ovaries, one of which (here designated CmV2) is apparently not a polydnavirus. Virus replication occurs in the ovarian calyx and in some other tissues of both male and female parasitoids; as yet, no replication has been observed in the testis, however. In addition, CmV2 is one of only two parasitoid viruses known to replicate in host insect larvae, and we not show that this virus is also capable of replicating in vitro; the virus is nevertheless nonpathogenic for gypsy moth larvae. The virus is not transmissible per os, either to host animals or to larvae of parasitoid strains lacking it. CmV2 is stably maintained within strains carrying it apparently by a vertical transmission mode involving the maternal line; transmission via the male germ line could not be demonstrated. While purification of the virus was not achieved, preliminary work allows us to suggest the genome consists of a single double-stranded DNA molecule of approximately 125 kb.

The polypeptides in TIV and in TIV-infected hemocytes were studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). TIV consists of 28 polypeptides ranging in molecular weight from 17,500 to 300,000. The lowest molecular weight polypeptide appears to be a lipoprotein, and none appear to be glycoproteins. Proteins, banding in the same area as TIV polypeptides, are seen in gels after PAGE of hemocytes from larvae 4 hr after viral injection. Also present in infected cells are 6 noncapsid viral polypetides. Infection by TIV is accompanied by an immediate depression of leucine incorporation into hemocyte and plasma proteins and a switch in synthesis from host-specific to virus-specific polypeptides.