Question

Baculoviruses are excellent candidates for integrated pest management in an ecologically sensitive area.

Answer 1

Hint: Baculovirus are the organisms which attack insects and arthropods. The virus is very small and has double stranded DNA as their genetic material. These viruses do not show any harmful effect on the plants.

Complete answer:
Baculoviridae is a family of viruses. The family consists of around 84 species of these viruses. The Arthropods, lepidoptera, diptera are the natural host to this virus. This virus contains double-stranded DNA whose genome ranges from 80 to 180kbp.

The Baculovirus are known to infect insects. The lepidopteran larval forms are the most common hosts. They can enter the mammalian cells but are not able to divide.

Biological importance of Baculovirus:

1)It is widely used for pest control as they infect almost all the species of pests including arthropods.
2)The virus is used extensively for integrated pest management as they do not cause any threat or harmful effect on mammals, birds, plants, fish or other insects which do not serve as hosts.
3)The genus of Nucleopolyhedrovirus is extensively used as biological control agents.
4)The virus is extensively used to produce recombinant proteins.
5)The natural as well as genetically modified baculovirus have great benefits for crop protection.

Note: The baculovirus are species specific. After infecting the host, it reaches the gut of the host and releases occlusion bodies. This causes cell lyses and the host cell starts to disintegrate. The baculovirus is used robustly in producing glycoproteins and membrane proteins.