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The development of larval resistance to a nucleopolyhedrovirus is not accompanied by an increased virulence in the virus

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Abstract

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the possible coevolution of cabbage loopers (Trichoplusia ni) and their S nucleopolyhedrovirus (TnSNPV). At the conclusion of Experiments 1 and 2, T. ni had respectively evolved 4.4 × and 22 × resistance to TnSNPV. The higher level of resistance achieved in Experiment 2 could be due to marginally stronger selection, possibly greater genetic variability in larval resistance to TnSNPV, or both. However, the evolution of resistance was not accompanied by an increased virulence of TnSNPV or a change in the restriction profile of the viral DNA when digested with BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII, PstI, SalI, SstI or XhoI. Little genetic variability for virulence in the initial TnSNPV stocks, low mutation rates and possibly weak selection on the virus are some factors that may have constrained the evolution of TnSNPV. We discuss our results in light of the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution and their implications for the use of TnSNPV as a biological control agent against T. ni.

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  1. Maynard L. Milks

    Present address: Pacific Agriculture Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 4200 Highway 97, Summerland, British Columbia, V0H 1Z0, Canada

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4

    Maynard L. Milks & Judith H. Myers

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  1. Maynard L. Milks
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Milks, M.L., Myers, J.H. The development of larval resistance to a nucleopolyhedrovirus is not accompanied by an increased virulence in the virus. Evolutionary Ecology 14, 645–664 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010923301770

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