Enhancing the insecticidal potential of baculovirus by overexpressing galectin-1, a beta-galactosyl binding protein

Pest management is an essential issue of agricultural practice and many means have been exploited to achieve it. Of these options, the most wildly used is still the chemical pesticide. Even though chemical pesticide is very effective and efficient in controlling pests, it also causes multiple problems such as environment contamination and non-specificity. Bio-pesticide is an alternative option for pest management. It’s a form of pesticide based on micro-organisms or natural products such as bacteria, virus and nematode. My research focus on an insect virus, the Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV). AcMNPV is a baculovirus that can infect many species of lepidopteran. It is eco-friendly, with high specificity in host range and causing no harms to humans. After completing its infection cycle, AcMNPV progenies are packaged into occluded bodies, termed polyhedra, which are released into the environment and are stable for a long time. After a new host ingests the polyhedra, virus progenies are released and initiate infection cycle in the infected cells, eventually killing the host. Though AcMNPV can be a good candidate for bio-pesticide, the efficiency is not high enough. The whole infection process requires at least 3-6 days. In our experiment, a human gene, LGALS1, is inserted into AcMNPV genome. LGALS1 encodes the galectin-1 protein which has been proven capable of binding chitin on peritrophic membrane and making midgut collapse. We hypothesize that inserting LGALS1 into AcMNPV can enhance its insecticidal activity, making it an efficient bio-pesticide.