Replication and serial passage of a multicapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Orgyia pseudotsugata (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in continuous insect cell lines

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Abstract
A multicapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (MNPV) of the Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata, propagated in larvae of the white-marked tussock moth, O. leucostigma, was successfully grown in two continuous cell lines developed from minced neonate larvae of O. leucostigma. Polyhedral inclusion bodies (PIBs) appeared in the nuclei of cells within 24 h after inoculation. Cytopathological changes, as revealed by light and electron microscopy, were typical of an MNPV. The virus has been passaged in the cell cultures 55 times. The level of infection during passaging has varied from 15 to 98% of the cells, and the number of PIBs per cell from 10 to 40. The PIBs from the fourth passage of the virus in cell cultures were almost as pathogenic to O. leucostigma larvae as the PIBs produced in larvae.
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