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. 2017 Mar 30;32(2):147–154. doi: 10.1007/s12250-016-3929-8

Genome analysis of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3h isolated from China

Guo-Hua Huang 1,2, Dian-Hai Hou 1, Manli Wang 1, Xiao-Wen Cheng 3, Zhihong Hu 1,✉
PMCID: PMC6598970  PMID: 28382574

Abstract

No ascovirus isolated from China has been sequenced so far. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to sequence the genome of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3h (HvAV-3h) using the 454 pyrosequencing technology. The genome was found to be 190,519-bp long with a G+C content of 45.5%. We also found that it encodes 185 hypothetical open reading frames (ORFs) along with at least 50 amino acids, including 181 ORFs found in other ascoviruses and 4 unique ORFs. Gene-parity plots and phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship between HvAV-3h and three other HvAV-3a strains and a distant relationship with Spodoptera frugiperda ascovirus 1a (SfAV-1a), Trichoplusia ni ascovirus 6a (TnAV-6a), and Diadromus pulchellus ascovirus 4a (DpAV-4a). Among the 185 potential genes encoded by the genome, 44 core genes were found in all the sequenced ascoviruses. In addition, 25 genes were found to be conserved in all ascoviruses except DpAV-4a. In the HvAV-3h genome, 24 baculovirus repeat ORFs (bros) were present, and the typical homologous repeat regions (hrs) were absent. This study supplies information important for understanding the conservation and functions of ascovirus genes as well as the variety of ascoviral genomes.

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Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s12250-016-3929-8 and is accessible for authorized users.

Keywords: Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3h (HvAV-3h), genome organization, bro genes, phylogenetic relationship

Electronic supplementary material

12250_2016_3929_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (916.7KB, pdf)

Genome analysis of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3h isolated from China

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jue Hu, Xing-Shi Gu, Wen-Fei Xian, Hai-Zhou Liu, Lei Zhang, and Shun-Ji Li for their help in virus amplification and data analysis. The authors would also like to acknowledge the technical assistance received from the Core Facility and Technical Support of Wuhan Institute of Virology. This study was supported partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31371995 and 31621061), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant XDB11030400), STS Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant KFJ-SW-STS- 143-3), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholar of China (14JJ1023).

Footnotes

ORCID: 0000-0002-1560-0928

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Supplementary Materials

12250_2016_3929_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (916.7KB, pdf)

Genome analysis of Heliothis virescens ascovirus 3h isolated from China

Articles from Virologica Sinica are provided here courtesy of Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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