Detection of single and mixed covert baculovirus infections in eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana populations.

We surveyed for covert baculovirus infections in the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) and compared the prevalence of virus detected in a laboratory and a field population. DNA was extracted from budworm adults and then PCR with degenerate primers was used to identify individuals carrying baculovirus DNA. Multiplex PCR was then applied to the positive samples to distinguish between the multiple baculovirus types that could potentially be found in C. fumiferana populations. Covert infections were found in both the laboratory and the field population of C. fumiferana, although the frequency of infection and the composition of viruses found were very different. Overall 28% of insects from the laboratory population were positive for baculovirus DNA. Individual adults supported both single and mixed covert infections with CfMNPV plus CfDEFNPV, CfDEFNPV plus a GV and mixtures of all three viruses together. However, the majority of insects supported single virus infections, and surprisingly this virus was CfDEFNPV, a virus that is reported not to have per os activity in C. fumiferana larvae. Insects from field populations showed a very different pattern; 70.5% of individuals were baculovirus positive and all of these were positive for CfDEFNPV only.