[WNV] CuniNPV--Possible New Culex Mosquito Larvicide

<x-flowed>This posting contains newly released information about the CuniNPV
"baculovirus," first discovered by a USDA entomologist in 1997, that
is showing potential as a mosquito larvicide. -- LCL

[1]
NEWLY PATENTED VIRUS COULD HELP CONTROL DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES
Agricultural Research Service, USDA , April 23, 2003

...Agricultural Research Service scientists have received a patent
for a baculovirus--a virus specific to arthropods--that kills Culex
mosquitoes. The patent also includes a method for transmitting the
baculovirus to them. The baculovirus infects only Culex
mosquitoes--not other insects, plants, wildlife or people.
...
Baculoviruses are extremely uncommon in mosquitoes. However, James J.
Becnel, an entomologist with the ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural
and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla., discovered a novel
baculovirus in 1997. Called CuniNPV, it is very stable and persistent
and is a promising candidate to develop into a larvicide.

The baculovirus is activated when it's mixed with magnesium. When the
mixture is added into any body of water where mosquitoes breed,
larvae ingest it. According to Becnel, the virus can kill 85 to 95
percent of
mosquitoes in their natural habitat after two to three days. And the
magnesium won't harm the water.

ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency, is seeking partners to license the technology and bring it to
the market. Interested parties should contact ARS' Office of
Technology
Transfer at: http://ott.arsusda.gov.

More information: NewsService@ars.usda.gov, www.ars.usda.gov, phone
(301) 504-1638

Source: ARS News Service, Jim Core, (301) 504-1619,
jcore@ars.usda.gov. Submitted by Mary Woodsen, Cornell University IPM
Program

[2]
For information about another new larvicide, see WestNileVirus-L
archived postings from Sept 3 and Oct 10, 2002 about TMOF, "trypsin
modulating oostatic factor."

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