Abstract
1 Station de Recherches de Pathologie Comparée INRA-CNRS, F-30380 Saint-Christol-lez-Alès
and2 Station de Recherches de Lutte Biologique INRA, La Minière, F-78280 Guyancourt, France
Cotransfection of Rachiplusia ou nuclear polyhedrosis virus (RoMNPV) and BamHI or SmaI fragments from the genome of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) yielded a high frequency of virus recombinants in Galleria mellonella larvae. When larvae were cotransfected either with the entire genome of AcMNPV and RoMNPV restriction fragments or with a mixture of the two viruses, only AcMNPV was produced. In the virus recombinants, the prevalence of certain regions from the genome of the donor virus (AcMNPV) varied considerably, e.g. from 0% in the 35 to 41 map unit region area to a high level in the 20 to 23 map unit region. The AcMNPV polyhedrin gene was shown to be inherited preferentially.