Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus ptp and egt genes are dispensable for triggering enhanced locomotory activity and climbing behavior in Bombyx mandarina larvae

Baculoviruses are classic pathogens that alter host behavior to enhance their dispersal and transmission. While viral protein tyrosine phosphatase (ptp) has been considered as a critical factor for inducing enhanced locomotory activity, preceding investigations have reported that viral ecdysteroid UDP-glucosyltransferase (egt) contributes to triggering climbing behavior in some virus and host species. Here we found that both egt and ptp were dispensable for these abnormal behaviors in Bombyx mandarina larvae induced by Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus, thus implying that there is an unknown core mechanism of baculovirus-induced alteration of host behaviors.

Automated summary

The viral protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) and viral ecdysteroid UDP-glucosyltransferase (EGT) have been previously thought to contribute to altered host behaviors, but this study found that they may not be essential for certain abnormal behaviors in larvae induced by Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus, suggesting an unknown core mechanism of baculovirus-induced alteration of host behaviors.