Exploring the viriomes of different canegrubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Canegrubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) are major pests of sugarcane crops in Australia but despite long-term and intensive research, no commercially viable biological control agents have been identified. We used the RNA-seq approach to explore the viriomes of three different species of canegrubs from central Queensland, Australia to identify potential candidates for biological control. We identified several novel RNA viruses, characterized their genomes, and inferred their evolutionary relationship with other closely related viruses.