Hz-2V, which belongs to nudiviridae, is a sexually transmitted insect virus of corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea. Hz-2V is transmitted during mating or mating attempt of infected individuals, and specifically replicates in the reproductive tissues to cause abnormal development of testes and ovary in the adult moths of next generations. The malformation of Hz-2V reproductive tissues started during the early pupal stage without clear sign of virus replication. The virus replication started at the late pupal stage to cause sterility of the emerged moths. Interestingly, the infected female moths showed a unique pathology, so called ‘waxy-plug’, which is filled with virus particles, and abnormal mating behavior while they produced 6~7 times more of pheromone than the normal female moths did. To investigate the factors of Hz-2V which control the physiological, and behavioral changes of the infected moths, the whole genome sequence of Hz-2V was determined. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that Hz-2V contains 113 putative ORFs including juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) and histone binding protein homologues, and a miRNA candidate which probably controls the expression of viral JHE.

• Woojin Kim(WCU Biomodulation, Seoul National University)