Characterization of Campoletis sonorensis ichnovirus segment I genes as members of the repeat element gene family.

Campoletis sonorensis ichnovirus (CsIV) is a symbiotic virus associated with the endoparasitic wasp C. sonorensis. The virus is injected into the wasp's host, Heliothis virescens, during oviposition. One CsIV gene has been identified as a repeat element (rep) gene and encodes a ubiquitous imperfectly conserved 540 bp sequence. We report the sequencing and mapping of a rep-containing segment, segment I, that hybridizes to a known rep sequence from segment O(1). Analysis of this 8.6 kbp segment identified three ORFs having high similarity to the 540 bp rep sequence. All three rep sequence ORFs were expressed in parasitized H. virescens as well as in C. sonorensis tissues. Two of these rep genes, I 0.9 and I 1.1, have single copies of the 540 bp repeat sequence, while the third rep gene, I 1.2, has two imperfect copies, which are more similar to each other than to sequences on the segment I single-motif genes. Like the CsIV BHv 0.9 rep gene, the segment I rep genes lack introns and a signal peptide, suggesting that they are not secreted. Based on their similarity in nucleotide sequence, predicted amino acid sequence and gene structure, the three segment I repeat-containing genes, I 0.9, I 1.1 and I 1.2, are new members of the rep gene family.