New record of nucleopolyhedroviruses in tea looper caterpillars in India

The common tea looper caterpillar; B. suppressaria Guen, Hyposidra talaca Walk. and H. infixaria Walk. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) are the major tea defoliators affecting quality tea production in India. In the present study we report the nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV), identified and characterized by cloning and sequencing of a partial segment of polyhedrin gene of virus infected larvae of B. suppressaria, H. talaca and H. infixaria. [Display omitted] ► Tea looper caterpillars; Buzura suppressaria, Hyposidra talaca and H. infixaria are the major tea defoliators in India. ► We are reporting a new isolate of nucleopolyhedrovirus which shows close similarity to the Chinese isolate, BusuNPV. ► New isolate of NPV found infecting all three tea looper caterpillars in India. ► Phylogenetic study shows a variant of BusuNPV infects the tea loopers in India. Tea production in North-East India hit a record loss due to the widespread severe outbreak of a mixed brood of three species of looper caterpillar pests of geometrid moths (Lepidoptera) in 2008–2010. In addition to Buzura suppressaria, two newly recorded geometrids, viz., Hyposidra infixaria and Hyposidra talaca have caused widespread severe damage in recent years. In the present study we report the nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV) isolated from the tea looper caterpillar from North-East India. We identified and characterized the NPV by cloning and sequencing a partial segment of polyhedrin gene of virus infected larvae of B. suppressaria, H. talaca and H. infixaria. A comparison of deduced amino acids of polyhedrin gene among H. talaca, H. infixaria and B. suppressaria showed that same strain was found to infect all the three looper s in India, which show high sequence identity with B. suppressaria Chinese isolates. Based on the polyhedrin sequence homology, it is predicted that a variant of B. suppressaria Chinese isolate of NPV found to infect H. talaca, H. infixaria and B. suppressaria in India.