Interaction of a Densovirus with Glycans of the Peritrophic Matrix Mediates Oral Infection of the Lepidopteran Pest .

The success of oral infection by viruses depends on their capacity to overcome the gut epithelial barrier of their host to crossing over apical, mucous extracellular matrices. As orally transmitted viruses, densoviruses, are also challenged by the complexity of the insect gut barriers, more specifically by the chitinous peritrophic matrix, that lines and protects the midgut epithelium; how capsids stick to and cross these barriers to reach their final cell destination where replication goes has been poorly studied in insects. Here, we analyzed the early interaction of the densovirus (JcDV) with the midgut barriers of caterpillars from the pest .