Liquefaction of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus-infected insects is dependent on the integrity of virus-encoded chitinase and cathepsin genes.

We examined the role of the Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV)-encoded chitinase in virus pathogenesis in Trichoplusia ni larvae. In conjunction with the AcMNPV-encoded cathepsin, it promotes liquefaction of the host in the latter stages of infection. Insects infected with virus mutants lacking either the chitinase A gene (chiA) or cathepsin gene (cath) remained intact several days after death. However, if both viruses were used to infect insects, liquefaction of the host was restored. Chitinase was readily detected in AcMNPV-infected insects using a chitinase-specific antibody, but it was absent from insects infected with a chiA deletion mutant (AcchiA-). The chitinase was also detected in polyhedra purified from AcMNPV-infected insects but not in those from AcchiA-. However, polyhedra derived from a virus lacking an intact chiA were no less effective in initiating an infection in second instar T. ni larvae than those of the unmodified AcMNPV. It was also demonstrated that the virus chitinase retained high levels of activity between pH 3.0 and 10.0. In contrast, chitinases isolated from Serratia marcescens, although active under acidic conditions, rapidly lost activity above pH 7.0 illustrating that despite 57% sequence identity, the two proteins have distinct enzymic activities.