Production of entomopathogenic viruses

Most documents addressing the topic of the commercial production of entomopathogenic viruses will concentrate on baculoviruses due to broad knowledge of these viruses and the commercial products available. This chapter is no exception and will concentrate on the production of baculoviruses in vitro using insect cell culture technology in comparison to in vivo production in insects. The point of view taken by this chapter is that wild type baculoviruses have an important role to play in the control of insect pests but a major limitation to their wider use is the lack of a cost-effective in vitro production technology. This point has been well made by a number of previous authors over the past 30 years (Weiss and Vaughn, 1986; Murhammer, 1996; Black et al., 1997; Ravensberg, 2011b). However, while the topic of in vitro production of baculoviruses has been covered in general terms, the specific yield targets and issues still to be addressed for this to become a reality have been poorly addressed and this chapter attempts to address that deficiency in the literature. Following a brief introduction of entomopathogenic viruses and an explanation of why baculoviruses have received the most attention, the status of in vivo production of baculoviruses is described and the point made that some companies have successfully developed products using this mode of manufacturing for baculoviruses (Section 13.2). The current status of in vitro production of baculoviruses and the limitations to its successful application in the market, along with suggestions for further research is then addressed in detail (Sections 13.3–13.5). Finally, some comments are made as to what needs to happen for in vitro production of baculoviruses to be realized (Section 13.6).