Insect Virology

Viruses that are pathogenic to beneficial insects and other arthropods cause millions of dollars of damage to industries such as sericulture, apiculture and aquaculture every year (eg infecting honeybees and silk worms). On the other hand, viruses that are pathogenic to insect pests can be exploited as attractive biological control agents. Another fascinating feature of these viruses is that some, eg baculoviruses, have been commercially exploited for use as gene expression and delivery vectors in both insect and mammalian cells. All of these factors have led to an explosion in the amount of research into insect viruses in recent years generating impressive quantities of information on the molecular and cellular biology of these viruses. This timely book reviews the exciting new developments in the field of insect virology. Written by internationally renowned insect virologists, chapters review the current molecular biology of all the major groups of insect pathogenic viruses and sugge