ABSTRACT
The response of larvae to virus infection depends upon the particular host-virus combination, larval age, and virus dose. There are a few groups of viruses which are confined exclusively to insects and which have no vertebrate counterparts; the Tetraviridae is one such group. Although sufficient information has been amassed to warrant its recognition by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses the tetraviruses, unlike the baculoviruses have not been studied in any great depth. Attempts to transmit viruses to one species must take into account the possibility that crossinfection will activate a different but related virus in that host. In the absence of a permissive cell line, attempts to investigate the genome strategy have been limited to cell-free translation of the RNA using rabbit reticulocytes. The genome actived as mRNA and stimulated protein synthesis five- to tenfold that of endogenous RNA which, in comparison with other viruses, is a low level of efficiency.
