overview of the role of actin in the intracellular transport of baculovirus

Abstract Baculoviruses are a family of rod-shaped, enveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses which are specifically pathogenic to arthropod species. Baculoviruses infect their host cells, causing the rearrangement of actin in host cells, and then using actin to complete their intracellular infection process. Baculoviruses encode multiple proteins involved in regulating the rearrangement of intracellular actin network. This review summarizes the life cycle of baculoviruses, and examines the recent progress regarding the role of actin in the targeted transport of baculovirus nucleocapsids. The baculovirus proteins that interact with actin and are related to actin rearrangement are also described briefly. This information should aid in understanding the molecular biology of baculoviruses especially for gene expression and biological control. Keywords Baculovirus, Actin, Rearrangement, Nucleocapsid transport