Autographa californica Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus ORF11 Is Essential for Budded-Virus Production and Occlusion-Derived-Virus Envelopment

ORF11 (ac11) of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is a highly conserved gene with unknown function. To determine the role of ac11 in the baculovirus life cycle, an ac11 knockout mutant of AcMNPV, Ac11KO, was constructed. Northern blot and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) analyses revealed that ac11 is an early gene in the life cycle. Microscopy, titration assays, and Western blot analysis revealed that budded viruses (BVs) were not produced in Ac11KO-transfected Sf9 cells. However, quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis demonstrated that the deletion of ac11 did not affect viral DNA replication. Furthermore, electron microscopy revealed that there was no nucleocapsid in the cytoplasm or plasma membrane of Ac11KO-transfected cells, which demonstrates that the defect in BV production in Ac11KO-transfected cells is due to the inefficient egress of nucleocapsids from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In addition, electron microscopy observations showed that the nucleocapsids in the nucleus were not enveloped to form occlusion-derived viruses (ODVs) and that their subsequent embedding into occlusion bodies (OBs) was also blocked in Ac11KO-transfected cells, demonstrating that ac11 is required for ODV envelopment. These results therefore demonstrate that ac11 is an early gene that is essential for BV production and ODV envelopment. IMPORTANCE Baculoviruses have been extensively used not only as specific, environmentally benign insecticides but also as helper-independent protein expression vectors. Although the function of baculovirus genes in viral replication has been studied by using gene knockout technology, the functions of more than one-third of viral genes, which include some highly conserved genes, are still unknown. In this study, ac11 was proven to play a crucial role in BV production and ODV envelopment. These results will lead to a better understanding of baculovirus infection cycles.