Now more than ever researchers provide more and more evidence that it is necessary to develop an ecologically friendly approach to pest control. This is reflected in a sharp increase in the value of the biological insecticide market in recent decades. In our study, we found a virus strain belonging to the genus Cypovirus (Reoviridae); the strain was isolated from Dendrolimus sibiricus, possessing attractive features as a candidate for mass production of biological agents for lepidopteran-pest control. We describe the morphological, molecular, and ecological features of the new Cypovirus strain. This strain was found to be highly virulent to D. sibiricus (the half-lethal dose is 25 occlusion bodies per second-instar larva) and to have a relatively wide host range (infecting representatives of five families of Lepidoptera: Erebidae, Sphingidae, Pieridae, Noctuidae, and Lasiocampidae). The virus strain showed a strong interaction with a nontoxic adjuvant (optical brightener), which decreased the lethal dose for both main and alternative hosts, decreased lethal time, and may expand the host range. Moreover, we demonstrated that the insecticidal features were preserved after passaging through the most economically suitable host. By providing strong arguments for the possible use of this strain in pest control, we call on virologists, pest control specialists, and molecular biologists to give more attention to the Cypovirus genus, which may lead to new insights in the field of pest control research and may provide significant advantages to compare with baculoviruses and Bacillus thuringiensis products which are nowadays main source of bioinsecticides. IMPORTANCE In this article, we describe a newly discovered cypovirus strain that displays features ideally suited for the development of a modern biological insecticide: high potency, relatively broad host range, true regulating effect, flexible production (possibility to choose host species for production), interaction with enhancing adjuvants, and ecologically friendly. Based on an alignment of CPV genomes, we suggest that the enhanced host range of this new strain is the sequence of evolutionary events that occurred after coinfections involving different CPV species within the same host. These findings suggest that we need to positively reconsider CPVs as prospective agents as biocontrol products.
Keywords: Lepidoptera; Lymantria dispar; Reoviridae; baculovirus; bioinsecticides; cypovirus; host range; insect; optical brightener; pest control.