Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Insects can be exposed to many viruses that can either infect them (insect viruses or entomopathogenic viruses) or be transmitted to vertebrates (arboviruses) or plants (plant viruses). Entomopathogenic viruses can cause diseases in natural populations of insects as well as reared ones. So far, insect viruses have mainly been studied for their potential in biological control, i.e., for the control of insect pest populations. However, recently, with the emerging interest in mass-reared insects—for human food or animal feed, waste management, biological control, pollination, or the production of, e.g., silk and honey—there has been an increasing need to detect, manage, and control entomopathogenic viruses in those mass-reared insects. In addition, viruses infect other invertebrates that are economically important for human food, i.e., shrimps and oysters, or those that are important as fish bait or pet feed, i.e., earthworms, have caused economic losses and therefore need be managed and controlled. To this end, studies on the development of early-detection tools to identify viral infections in insect colonies as well as the development of sanitation methods (e.g., starting with virus-free insects) are in urgent demand. In addition, the selection of virus-resistant insect strains with high tolerance to virus infection is recommended. Furthermore, analysis of the rearing procedure and selecting the best practice to avoid viral infections and maintain stress-free rearing conditions to rear healthy insects without compromising their immune system represents another promising strategy. Understanding the molecular dialogue between pathogenic viruses and their hosts and the associated microbiota that might affect the viral infection and host response is important for selecting the best conditions to maintain an equilibrium state toward avoiding disease outbreaks in reared insects.

Based on the above, we invite researchers to contribute original articles as well as reviews that will stimulate our continuing efforts to understand entomopathogenic virus infections in insect mass rearing and to improve our knowledge of the molecular dialogues between viruses, their hosts, and the associated microbes; sensitive virus detection; and targeted treatments using a holistic approach in order to improve insect mass rearing for various objectives.

Prof. Dr. Adly Abd-Alla
Guest Editor

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• insect viruses
• virus–host interactions
• molecular virology
• viral taxonomy
• virus management
• virus dynamics
• virus detection
• virus–host–symbiont interactions

• Viruses in Mass-Reared Invertebrates in Viruses (11 articles)