Abstract
Textbooks define viruses as infectious agents with nucleic acid genomes (RNA or DNA), which replicate inside living host cells to produce particles (virions) that can transfer the genome to other cells [1], [2]. The Polydnaviridae was recognized as a family of viruses in 1995, and is currently divided into two genera named the Bracovirus and Ichnovirus [3]. Polydnavirus (PDV) virions consist of enveloped nucleocapsids and package multiple circular, double-stranded (ds) DNAs with aggregate sizes that range from 190 to more than 500 kbp [4]. PDVs are also strictly associated with insects called parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera), which are free living nectar feeders as adults but which develop during their immature stages by feeding inside the body of another insect (the host) [3], [4]. Recent studies, however, indicate that PDVs differ from all other known viruses in ways that challenge traditional views of what viruses are and how they function.
Highlights
Textbooks define viruses as infectious agents with nucleic acid genomes (RNA or DNA), which replicate inside living host cells to produce particles that can transfer the genome to other cells [1,2]
The proviral genome consists of two components: 1) the core genes that code for essential replication machinery, and 2) regions of DNA that contain virulence genes that are amplified, excised from the wasp genome, and packaged into virions (Figure 1A)
Each proviral DNA packaged into virions possesses conserved, flanking motifs that identify the site of integration/excision from the wasp genome during DNA replication, whereas the core genecontaining domains lack these motifs [6,10,11,12]
Summary
Textbooks define viruses as infectious agents with nucleic acid genomes (RNA or DNA), which replicate inside living host cells to produce particles (virions) that can transfer the genome to other cells [1,2]. Polydnavirus (PDV) virions consist of enveloped nucleocapsids and package multiple circular, doublestranded (ds) DNAs with aggregate sizes that range from 190 to more than 500 kbp [4]. PDVs are strictly associated with insects called parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera), which are free living nectar feeders as adults but which develop during their immature stages by feeding inside the body of another insect (the host) [3,4]. Indicate that PDVs differ from all other known viruses in ways that challenge traditional views of what viruses are and how they function
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