<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-GB">Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Indian strains of <i>Helicoverpa armigera</i> n<span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">ucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV)</span></span>

Abstract

In order to determine the phylogenetic relation amongst four <i>Helicoverpa armigera</i> n<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">ucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV) strains, isolated from North Indian states along with standard Bangalore strain, a molecular analysis was performed based on conserved <i>polh</i> (<i>polhedrin</i>) and <i>lef-8</i> (<i>late expression factor-8</i>) gene sequences of these strains. PCR amplification of <i>polh</i> region only with HearSNPV and not with HearMNPV specific primers established that all strains were single nucleopolyhedrovirus (SNPV) and none were multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (MNPV). Multiple alignments of <i>polh</i> and <i>lef-8</i> sequences with similar sequences available for HearSNPV strains from other countries identified several nucleotide mutations (addition and substitution) amongst these strains, some of which were equally reflected into variability in amino acid sequences. The phylogenetic analysis based on both individual (<i>polh</i> and <i>lef-8</i>) as well as concatenated (<i>polh-lef-8</i>) sequences established a phylogenetically distinct identity of Indian HearSNPV strains, which were different from HearSNPV strains reported from other countries. Moreover, Indian HearSNPV strains possessed a low to high genetic variability amongst themselves suggesting that these strains have evolved through a common ancestor due to geographical separation. Though the Indian strains constituted a distinct cluster in HearSNPV phylogeny, the observed genotypic variability requires investigations on these genotypic differences in the biology of baculoviruses. The results hold significance in molecular fingerprinting of Indian HearNPV strains, and the same will help in understanding the ecology and evolution of these strains in the Indian subcontinent.

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