Genome of Thysanoplusia orichalcea Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus Lacks the Superoxide Dismutase Gene

Thysanoplusia orichalcea multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (ThorMNPV) has high virulence to Trichoplusia ni and Pseudoplusia includens larvae, with a potential for biological control of insect pests. The genome of ThorMNPV was sequenced and found to be 132,978 bp, with a G+C content of 37.9%. There are 145 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), encoding proteins of 50 or more amino acid residues with minimal overlap. Of the 145 ORFs, 141 appeared to be homologous to those of Autographa californica MNPV (AcMNPV). In comparison to AcMNPV, 9 ORFs of AcMNPV were absent in ThorMNPV, including the superoxide dismutase (sod) gene.