Phenology, distribution, and host specificity of Solenopsis invicta virus-1

• Published in: Journal of invertebrate pathology 2007-09, Vol.96 (1), p.18-27
• Main Authors: Valles, Steven M., Strong, Charles A., Oi, David H., Porter, Sanford D., Pereira, Roberto M., Vander Meer, Robert K., Hashimoto, Yoshifumi, Hooper-Bùi, Linda M., Sánchez-Arroyo, Hussein, Davis, Tim, Karpakakunjaram, Vedham, Vail, Karen M., “Fudd” Graham, L.C., Briano, Juan A., Calcaterra, Luis A., Gilbert, Lawrence E., Ward, Rufina, Ward, Kenneth, Oliver, Jason B., Taniguchi, Glenn, Thompson, David C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Ants - virology; Arthropoda; Biological and medical sciences; Biological control; Control; Dicistroviridae; disease prevalence; fire ants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Genome, Viral; geographical distribution; Host specificity; Host-Parasite Interactions - physiology; insect viruses; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; nucleotide sequences; phenology; Phylogeny; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Picornaviridae - genetics; Picornaviridae Infections - epidemiology; Picornaviridae Infections - veterinary; positive sense, single-stranded RNA viruses; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA virus; seasonal variation; sequence homology; Solenopsis; Solenopsis geminata; Solenopsis invicta; Solenopsis invicta virus 1A; Solenopsis richteri; temperature; Virology
• ISSN: 0022-2011; 1096-0805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jip.2007.02.006

Studies were conducted to examine the phenology, geographic distribution, and host specificity of the Solenopsis invicta virus-1 (SINV-1). Two genotypes examined, SINV-1 and -1A, exhibited similar seasonal prevalence patterns. Infection rates among colonies of S. invicta in Gainesville, Florida, were lowest from early winter (December) to early spring (April) increasing rapidly in late spring (May) and remaining high through August before declining again in the fall (September/October). Correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between mean monthly temperature and SINV-1 ( p < 0.0005, r = 0.82) and SINV-1A ( p < 0.0001, r = 0.86) infection rates in S. invicta colonies. SINV-1 was widely distributed among S. invicta populations. The virus was detected in S. invicta from Argentina and from all U.S. states examined, with the exception of New Mexico. SINV-1 and -1A were also detected in other Solenopsis species. SINV-1 was detected in Solenopsis richteri and the S. invicta/richteri hybrid collected from northern Alabama and Solenopsis geminata from Florida. SINV-1A was detected in S. geminata and Solenopsis carolinensis in Florida and the S. invicta/richteri hybrid in Alabama. Of the 1989 arthropods collected from 6 pitfall trap experiments from Gainesville and Williston, Florida, none except S. invicta tested positive for SINV-1 or SINV-1A. SINV-1 did not appear to infect or replicate within Sf9 or Dm-2 cells in vitro. The number of SINV-1 genome copies did not significantly increase over the course of the experiment, nor were any cytopathic effects observed. Phylogenetic analyses of SINV-1/-1A nucleotide sequences indicated significant divergence between viruses collected from Argentina and the U.S.