Polydnavirus

A polydnavirus is generally a viruswhose genomeis encoded in multiple superhelicaldeoxyribonucleic acidmolecules. Notably, the polydnavirus Campoletis sonorensis has been found in the oviductsof all or most adultfemaleC. sonorensis parasitoidwasps. These viruses replicate only within specific calyxcellsof female ovaries. Polydnaviruses may affect their hosts' immune systemsand appear to have a symbioticrelationship with the wasps (which benefit from suppression of their host organism's immune system by the virus). Ongoing research on polydnaviruses has involved sequence analysisto gather informationon the functions of polydnaviral genes.

References

• Fleming, J.-A. G. W. & Summers, M. D. (1991, November). Polydnavirus is integrated in the DNA of its parasitoid wasp host. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 88, 9770 – 9774.
• Whitfield, J. B. (2002). Estimating the age of the polydnavirusybraconid wasp symbiosis. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 7508 – 7513.

See also

• Endosymbiotic theory

External link

• http://research.biology.arizona.edu/mosquito/willott/507/polydnaviruses.html

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydnavirus Wikipedia article Polydnavirus.