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Viruses
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Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates, 2nd Edition
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Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Invertebrate Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 5534

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Adly Abd-Alla

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food & Agriculture, P.O. Box 100, Wagrammer Straße 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Interests: virology; insect viruses; virus-host interaction; molecular virology; viral taxonomy; virus management; virus dynamics; virus detection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Insects can be exposed to many viruses that can either infect them (insect viruses or entomopathogenic viruses) or be transmitted to vertebrates (arboviruses) or plants (plant viruses). Entomopathogenic viruses can cause diseases in natural populations of insects as well as reared ones. So far, insect viruses have mainly been studied for their potential in biological control, i.e., for the control of insect pest populations. However, recently, with the emerging interest in mass-reared insects—for human food or animal feed, waste management, biological control, pollination, or the production of, e.g., silk and honey—there has been an increasing need to detect, manage, and control entomopathogenic viruses in those mass-reared insects. In addition, viruses infect other invertebrates that are economically important for human food, i.e., shrimps and oysters, or those that are important as fish bait or pet feed, i.e., earthworms, have caused economic losses and therefore need be managed and controlled. To this end, studies on the development of early-detection tools to identify viral infections in insect colonies as well as the development of sanitation methods (e.g., starting with virus-free insects) are in urgent demand. In addition, the selection of virus-resistant insect strains with high tolerance to virus infection is recommended. Furthermore, analysis of the rearing procedure and selecting the best practice to avoid viral infections and maintain stress-free rearing conditions to rear healthy insects without compromising their immune system represents another promising strategy. Understanding the molecular dialogue between pathogenic viruses and their hosts and the associated microbiota that might affect the viral infection and host response is important for selecting the best conditions to maintain an equilibrium state toward avoiding disease outbreaks in reared insects.

Based on the above, we invite researchers to contribute original articles as well as reviews that will stimulate our continuing efforts to understand entomopathogenic virus infections in insect mass rearing and to improve our knowledge of the molecular dialogues between viruses, their hosts, and the associated microbes; sensitive virus detection; and targeted treatments using a holistic approach in order to improve insect mass rearing for various objectives.

Prof. Dr. Adly Abd-Alla
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • insect viruses
  • virus–host interactions
  • molecular virology
  • viral taxonomy
  • virus management
  • virus dynamics
  • virus detection
  • virus–host–symbiont interactions

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3574 KiB  
Article
Laboratory Replication of Ostreid Herpes Virus (OsHV-1) Using Pacific Oyster Tissue Explants
by Robert W. A. Potts, Tim Regan, Stuart Ross, Kelly Bateman, Chantelle Hooper, Richard Paley, Ross D. Houston and Tim P. Bean
Viruses 2024, 16(8), 1343; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081343 - 22 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1120
Abstract
Pacific oysters (Crassostrea or Magallana gigas) are one of the most economically important aquaculture species globally. Over the past two decades, ostreid herpesvirus (OsHV-1) has become a major pathogen of cultured Pacific oysters, resulting in widespread mortality with a global distribution. [...] Read more.
Pacific oysters (Crassostrea or Magallana gigas) are one of the most economically important aquaculture species globally. Over the past two decades, ostreid herpesvirus (OsHV-1) has become a major pathogen of cultured Pacific oysters, resulting in widespread mortality with a global distribution. Experimental use of OsHV-1 is challenging for many reasons, including both complexity of host–pathogen dynamics and a lack of functioning model systems. The goal of this study was to improve the tools available for working with OsHV-1 in both whole animals and in tissue explants established from oysters maintained in controlled laboratory conditions. Tissue explants were taken from oysters originating from two different sources that have different levels of mortality in experimental OsHV-1 infections and were exposed to OsHV-1. A whole-animal infection experiment was run concurrently as a comparison. Quantitative PCR and electron microscopy were used to confirm that the explants were capable of replicating OsHV-1. Furthermore, the quantitative PCR results suggest that the source of the oysters was significant in determining the outcome of infection in the explants, supporting the validity of the explant model for OsHV-1 infection. This tissue explant approach for studying OsHV-1 allows for the control of confounding factors in the disease outcome that is not possible in whole-animal experiments, providing a new tool for the study of OsHV-1 in Pacific oysters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates, 2nd Edition)
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13 pages, 1409 KiB  
Article
Detection of Known and Novel Virus Sequences in the Black Solider Fly and Expression of Host Antiviral Pathways
by Hunter K. Walt, Heather R. Jordan, Florencia Meyer and Federico G. Hoffmann
Viruses 2024, 16(8), 1219; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081219 - 30 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1090
Abstract
The mass rearing of animals in close quarters can be highly conducive to microbe transmission, including pathogens. This has been shown multiple times in the case of important industrial insects such as crickets, silkworms, and honeybees. One industrial insect of increasing importance is [...] Read more.
The mass rearing of animals in close quarters can be highly conducive to microbe transmission, including pathogens. This has been shown multiple times in the case of important industrial insects such as crickets, silkworms, and honeybees. One industrial insect of increasing importance is the black soldier fly (Diptera: Hermetia illucens), as it can convert organic waste into high-quality protein and fatty acids. Along with this, they take up far less space than traditional protein sources, as millions of black soldier flies can be reared in a relatively small facility. Because of this, there is a growing interest in the pathogens that could impact black soldier fly-rearing efforts. So far, only three black soldier fly-associated viruses have been identified. We used metatranscriptomic sequencing to survey black soldier fly guts, frass, and diet for viruses. We detected sequences from two novel viruses. One, which we name Hermetia illucens sigma-like virus 1, is phylogenetically related to viruses of the genus Sigmavirus, which have been highly studied in Drosophila. The other novel virus, which we name Hermetia illucens inse-like virus 1, is the second double-stranded RNA virus of the order Ghabrivirales described in the black soldier fly, and groups within a new family of insect viruses called the Inseviridae. We also detected two black soldier fly-associated viruses previously identified by our group: BSF nairo-like virus 1 and BSF uncharacterized bunyavirus-like 1. Consistent with our previous study, these two viruses are found primarily in frass samples and occur together more often than expected at random. When analyzing host transcription, we found significant differences in gene expression for eight candidate antiviral genes in the black soldier fly when comparing samples with and without viral sequences. Our results suggest that black soldier fly–virus interactions are ongoing, and they could be of interest to black soldier fly producers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates, 2nd Edition)
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12 pages, 811 KiB  
Article
Droplet Digital RT-PCR (dd RT-PCR) Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Honey Bees and Honey Collected in Apiaries across the Campania Region
by Andrea Mancusi, Yolande Thérèse Rose Proroga, Paola Maiolino, Raffaele Marrone, Claudia D’Emilio, Santa Girardi, Marica Egidio, Arianna Boni, Teresa Vicenza, Elisabetta Suffredini and Karen Power
Viruses 2024, 16(5), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16050729 - 4 May 2024
Viewed by 2692
Abstract
Coronaviruses (CoVs), a subfamily of Orthocoronavirinae, are viruses that sometimes present a zoonotic character. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the recent outbreak of COVID-19, which, since its outbreak in 2019, has caused about 774,593,066 confirmed cases and 7,028,881 deaths. [...] Read more.
Coronaviruses (CoVs), a subfamily of Orthocoronavirinae, are viruses that sometimes present a zoonotic character. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the recent outbreak of COVID-19, which, since its outbreak in 2019, has caused about 774,593,066 confirmed cases and 7,028,881 deaths. Aereosols are the main route of transmission among people; however, viral droplets can contaminate surfaces and fomites as well as particulate matter (PM) in suspensions of natural and human origin. Honey bees are well known bioindicators of the presence of pollutants and PMs in the environment as they can collect a great variety of substances during their foraging activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible role of honey bees as bioindicators of the prevalence SARS-CoV-2. In this regard, 91 samples of honey bees and 6 of honey were collected from different apiaries of Campania region (Southern Italy) in four time periods from September 2020 to June 2022 and were analyzed with Droplet Digital RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 target genes Orf1b and N. The screening revealed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in 12/91 in honey bee samples and in 2/6 honey samples. These results suggest that honey bees could also be used as indicators of outbreaks of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates, 2nd Edition)
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