Late Male-Killing Viruses in Homona magnanima Identified as Osugoroshi Viruses, Novel Members of Partitiviridae

Ryosuke Fujita; Maki N Inoue; Takumi Takamatsu; Hiroshi Arai; Mayu Nishino; Nobuhiko Abe; Kentaro Itokawa; Madoka Nakai; Syun-Ichi Urayama; Yuto Chiba; Michael Amoa-Bosompem; Yasuhisa Kunimi

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.620623

Late Male-Killing Viruses in Homona magnanima Identified as Osugoroshi Viruses, Novel Members of Partitiviridae

Front Microbiol. 2021 Jan 20:11:620623. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.620623. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Sanitary Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
² Department of Medical Entomology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan.
⁴ Pathogen Genomics Center, Natinal Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Abstract

Late male-killing, a male-specific death after hatching, is a unique phenotype found in Homona magnanima, oriental tea tortrix. The male-killing agent was suspected to be an RNA virus, but details were unknown. We herein successfully isolated and identified the putative male-killing virus as Osugoroshi viruses (OGVs). The three RNA-dependent RNA polymerase genes detected were phylogenetically related to Partitiviridae, a group of segmented double-stranded RNA viruses. Purified dsRNA from a late male-killing strain of H. magnanima revealed 24 segments, in addition to the RdRps, with consensus terminal sequences. These segments included the previously found male-killing agents MK1068 (herein OGV-related RNA16) and MK1241 (OGV-related RNA7) RNAs. Ultramicroscopic observation of purified virions, which induced late male-killing in the progeny of injected moths, showed sizes typical of Partitiviridae. Mathematical modeling showed the importance of late male-killing in facilitating horizontal transmission of OGVs in an H. magnanima population. This study is the first report on the isolation of partiti-like virus from insects, and one thought to be associated with late male-killing, although the viral genomic contents and combinations in each virus are still unknown.

Keywords: Homona magnanima; Partitiviridae; horizontal transmission; insect virus; male killing.