Characterization of Iflavirus in the Red Flour Beetle, (Coleoptera; Tenebrionidae).

Iflavirus is a group of viruses distributed mainly in arthropod species. We surveyed () in different laboratory strains and in Sequence Read Archives (SRA) in GenBank. is highly specific to only and is not found in seven other Tenebrionid species, including the closely related species . The same strains from different laboratories and different strains displayed largely different degrees of infections in the examination of 50 different lines by using Taqman-based quantitative PCR. We found that ~63% (27 out of 43 strains) of strains in different laboratories are positive for PCR with large degrees of variation, in the range of seven orders of magnitude, indicating that the is highly fluctuating depending on the rearing conditions. The was prevalent in the nervous system with low levels found in the gonad and gut. The transovarial transmission was supported in the experiment with surface-sterilized eggs. Interestingly, infection did not show observable pathogenicity. offers an opportunity to study the interaction between the virus and the immune system of this model beetle species.