Breaking the host range: mandarin fish is susceptible to a vesiculovirus derived from snakehead fish

Abstract

Members of the genus Vesiculovirus, which belongs to the family Rhabdoviridae, can cause great economic loss in fish culture. In the present report, a vesiculovirus [named snakehead fish vesiculovirus (SHVV)] was isolated from diseased hybrid snakehead fish. SHVV shared 94 % nucleotide sequence identity at the genomic level with Siniperca chuatsi rhabdovirus (SCRV), which infects mandarin fish (S. chuatsi). We showed that SHVV was able to replicate and proliferate well in SSN-1 cells, which originate from striped snakehead fish (Channa striatus). Furthermore, mandarin fish was susceptible to SHVV by bath exposure, as well as by intraperitoneal injection. The infected fish showed typical clinical signs of rhabdovirus infection, including haemorrhage and oedema. Histopathological analysis revealed that extensive inflammation and necrosis were observed in the spleen, kidney, liver, heart and brain of the moribund mandarin fish. These results will shed new light on the epidemic of vesiculovirus infections among fish.

Abortive Infection of Snakehead Fish Vesiculovirus in ZF4 Cells Was Associated with the RLRs Pathway Activation by Viral Replicative Intermediates

“…SHVV was isolated and stored in our lab [ 20 ]. ZF-4 cells were obtained from Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Wuhan, China).…”

“…The genome of SHVV consists of a negative, single-stranded RNA which encodes five viral structural proteins, including Nucleoprotein (N), Phosphoprotein (P), Matrix protein (M), Glycoprotein (G), large protein (L) or RNA dependent RNA polymerase [ 19 ]. Recently, we showed that Mandarin fish was susceptible to SHVV, indicating that SHVV might have broad host ranges [ 20 ]. Zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) has become an attractive research model for the studies of fish diseases.…”

New Insights into Flavivirus Evolution, Taxonomy and Biogeographic History, Extended by Analysis of Canonical and Alternative Coding Sequences

“…During the preparation of this manuscript, the sequences of 5 strains of ITV were reported [70]. The authors suggested that ITV and BAGV should be considered a single species with 2 different clades representing "old isolates" and "recent isolates".…”

“…There has been considerable discussion concerning the significance of these observations [79] and the hypothesis that POW was introduced into North America using the Beringian land bridge that connected Asia and North America between 15,000-11,000 years ago has recently been used to estimate modelling the temporal origin and evolution of flaviviruses (see the discussion section) [85].…”

“…Based on this assumption, we estimated divergence times and ancestral OW/NW relationships to provide a deeper understanding of the evolution and dispersal patterns of flaviviruses. Since virus evolution characterised by lineage-specific and non-constant substitution rates (Pettersson 2014), it would be unwise to assert that a single calibration point can produce precise estimates for both short/recent times, and long/deep times. Not surprisingly, our estimates, based on a calibration point from the recent historical period and involving mosquito-borne viruses, differ significantly from those of Pettersson and Omarwhose calibration point was derived from a more distant historical time period and involved a tick-borne virus.…”