فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

A novel alphabaculovirus, originally isolated from Helicoverpa armigera dead larvae, was collected from a tomato field in the North West region of Iran. Preliminary virus infection was revealed by microscopic observation of irregularly shaped polyhedral inclusion bodies, and the virus was subsequently confirmed by molecular and sequence analysis. Results revealed that the collected larvae contained Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV), which was named HearNPV-IR. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial single and concatenated sequences of late expression factor 8 (lef-8), late expression factor 9 (lef-9), and polyhedrin (polh) genes placed the HearNPV-IR isolate within the HearMNPVs clade, near the Russia isolate HearMNPV 3154. Concentration-mortality bioassays were conducted on 3rd instar larvae of H. armigera, and the mean lethal dose (LC50) of HearMNPV-IR was estimated at 4×105 OBs/ml. The ST50 (median survival time) was 3- and 4-days post-infection (dpi) when the 3rd instar larvae were inoculated by OBs concentration equivalent to 3×109 and 3×108 OBs/ml, respectively. The highest dose resulted in 100% mortality at 5 dpi. The desirable insecticidal properties of HearMNPV-IR support its promising biocontrol agent against cotton bollworm.