ABSTRACT

The common name of densonucleosis virus was first given to describe the characteristic histopathologic symptoms, that is, hypertrophied and densely stained nuclei of sensitive cells in infected larvae upon histological inspection. Although such an absolute requirement for S-phase transition is also expected for densonucleosis viruses, this has never been firmly proven. All viruses isolated containing a single-stranded, linear deoxyribonucleic acid genome belongs to the Parvoviridae family. Only a few densonucleosis virus have been investigated in some detail, particularly those from Galleria mellonella and Bombyx mori, and most of this review will be concentrated on these viruses. Parvoviruses are homogeneous with respect to replication but differ in expression strategies, leading to the classification into Parvoviridae and its genera, respectively. Despite their high virulence for insects, the use of densonucleosis viruses as pesticides has not yet been investigated in detail, both because of safety considerations and because of the trend of using occluded viruses in biological control experiments.