Unusual baculovirus of the parasitoid wasp Apanteles melanoscelus: Isolation and preliminary characterization

A baculovirus present in the female reproductive tract of the parasitoid wasp Apanteles melanoscelus has been isolated and partially characterized. Viral DNA is double stranded, circular, and of highly variable molecular weight ranging from 2 x 10⁶ to 25 x 10⁶, the DNA is of homogeneous density at ρ = 1.694 g/ml. Acrylamide gels resolve 18 polypeptide bands in the case of purified virions; four to five of these appear in a semipurified nucleocapsid preparation. The electrophoretic profiles obtained are compared with those of two other baculoviruses.