Insect Viruses

Viral diseases have been found in 13 insect orders and most likely occur in all orders. Viruses are the simplest "life forms" so far recovered from insects, and consist of a nucleic acid core and a protein shell or capsid. This nucleocapsid may also be surrounded by a lipid bilayer envelope and, if so, is called a virion. Some viruses are additionally occluded into a protein matrix. The matrix is called an "occlusion body". Occlusion bodies are found in three families of viruses and appear to have evolved independently in each family.

Insect viruses may be double- or single-stranded DNA (dsDNA and ssDNA, respectively) or double- or single-stranded RNA (dsRNA and ssRNA, respectively), enveloped or nonenveloped, and occluded in a protective protein matrix or nonoccluded. Viruses that are primarily or exclusively found in insects are currently placed in 12 families and one unclassified group (Miller, L.K., 1998); viruses in families that have been isolated but are not common in insects are not included here. There are no higher level taxonomic classifications for viruses (International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, 1991). The following families are included in this program:

DNA Viruses

Baculoviruses

Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPV)
Granuloviruses (GV)

 

 

Other DNA Viruses

Ascoviruses
Iridoviruses
Parvoviruses
Polydnaviruses
Poxviruses

RNA Viruses