The Effect of Temperature on the Development of Sericesthis Iridescent Virus

Abstract

SummaryDevelopment of Sericesthis iridescent virus (SIV) in larvae and prepupae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella is very sensitive to temperature. The optimum for SIV growth is 22°C in the wax moth, but it is probably slightly higher in the scarab Sericesthis pruinosa. SIV is not normally produced in wax moth prepupae at temperatures above 30°C and production of neither viral protein nor nucleic acid was detected at 35°C.At 22°C SIV growth rate is maximal 7·1 days following infection, at which time 0·56 mg virus is produced per insect per day. At 16°C maximum production is at 8·2 days when 0·030 mg virus is being produced per day. If infected larvae are kept at 22°C for 10 days, and then moved to 28°C, virus increases slowly, whereas in those moved to 32°C virus already synthesized decreases in amount. Infection by SIV does not raise the temperature of wax moth larvae.The nature of the "temperature lesion" in SIV development is discussed.

Effect of temperature on the development of baculoviruses

“…Several authors report an abortive effect of temperatures above 35°C on NPV infections (YADAVA 1970;DAY and DUDZINSKY 1966;FEEMERS 1986;INOUE and TANADA 1977; KOBAYASHI and CHOI 1990), an effect which was n o t observed in o u r case since active polyhedra resulted from typical NPV infection for all viral strains.…”