Application of quantitative PCR for quantization of densovirus genome

Abstract

Densovirus is classified as invertebrate virus belonging to the subfamily Densovirinae of Parvoviridae family. This group of viruses infects only insects and several densoviruses have been isolated from indigenous mosquitoes and mosquito cell lines. A number of mosquitoes, especially Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are important vectors of viruses, which are the major causes of dengue hemorrhagic fever and yellow fever in humans. As densoviruses do not cause any pathology in humans, these viruses have been proposed to be a potential vector for use in biological control of mosquitoes and insects. We report the application of quantitative (q)PCR to determine the amount of densovirus genome in mosquito cell culture supernatant and mosquito. This method is simple, rapid and has a wide dynamic range, and therefore is likely to be useful and applicable in the determination of viral load of other viruses in a variety of biological specimens.