Autographa califoica nucleopolyhedrovirus orf74 (Ac74) is located between 62 311 and 63 108bp in the AcMNPV genome, which encodes 265 amino acid residues with a predicted 31 kDa molecular weight. The homologues of Ac74 were searched using BLASTP in protein databases, GenBank/EMBL and SWISS-PROT. The result revealed that deduced Ac74 protein was homologous to the predicted products from 10 lepidoptera NPV ORFs. The multiple sequence alignments of Ac74 and its 10 homologues manifested only one amino acid residue was completely conserved. The transcript analysis revealed that the transcript of Ac74 was detected from 24-72 hours post-infection (hpi). The product of Ac74was detected at 24 hpi and lasted until 72 bpi by Weste blot using anti-Ac74 antiserum,consistent with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction results. These results suggested Ac74 was expressed during the later stages of infection. The product of Ac74 was 31 kDa in size, consistent with predicted molecular weight. The subcellular localization of Ac74 proteins manifested Ac74 protein in the cytoplasm, and was hardly present in the nucleus at 24 bpi. The fluorescence was also observed in polyhedra, except cytoplasm at 72hpi. Together, Ac74 is a functional protein with 31kDa molecular weight and is located in the cytoplasm and the polyhedra.