Caracterización morfológica, biológica y genética de un aislamiento Colombiano de granulovirus de Erinnyis ello (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) Characterization of a Colombian isolate of Erinnyis ello granulovirus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Erinnyis ello (L.) is a polyphagous lepidopteran pest that may cause serious annual losses in the rubber industry. The use of granulovirus represents an interesting alternative as a biological control agent for this insect. Three Colombian isolates of granulovirus for E. ello (EeGV) were obtained from field larvae and characterized at morphological, biological and molecular level. Occlusion bodies (OB) of the three isolates showed an oval morphology with a unique nucleocapsid, with a size of 302.9 ± 22 x 181.5 ± 16 nm. Analysis of DNA endonuclease restriction profiles did not showed differences among the three viral isolates, which means that they correspond to samples of the same viral strain, denominated VG010. The VG010 viral genome size was estimated to be approximately 88.7 kb. The analysis of the phylogenetic relationships based on selected gene sequences lef-8, lef-9 and gran showed a close relationship between VG010 and the previously described isolate EeGV (M34-4). These sequence similarities suggest that the three isolates are genotypic variants of the same viral species. The in vitro efficacy of the VG010 isolate against second and fourth instar larvae was 100 and 64%, respectively, while the mean lethal concentration (LC50) was 4,3 x 10 3 OB/mL. The viral productivity ranged between 2.1 x 10 9 and 3.8 x 10 9 OB/g of larvae. These results represent the basis to develop a new biopesticide control agent for the pest in the field.