Our aim was to isolate and characterize white spot syndrome virus (WSSV)-binding proteins from shrimp. After a blot of shrimp hemocyte membrane proteins was overlaid with a recombinant WSSV envelope protein (rVP28), the reactive bands on the blot were detected using anti-VP28 antibody. Among three membraneassociated molecules identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, there was a 25-kDa protein that bound to both rVP28 and WSSV. Since it had a primary structure with high homology to the small GTP-binding protein Rab7, we named it Penaeus monodon Rab7 (PmRab7). The full-length PmRab7 cDNA was obtained, and results from a glutathione S-transferase pull-down assay confirmed specific binding to rVP28. Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis revealed PmRab7 expression in many tissues, and real-time PCR analysis revealed that expression was constitutive. Binding of PmRab7 to rVP28 or WSSV occurred in a dose-dependent manner and was inhibited by anti-Rab7 antibody. In an in vivo neutralization assay, the number of dead shrimp after challenge with WSSV plus PmRab7 (15%) or WSSV plus anti-Rab7 antibody (5%) was significantly lower than after challenge with WSSV alone (95%). In contrast to the WSSV-injected group, shrimp injected with WSSV plus PmRab7 or WSSV plus anti-Rab7 showed no WSSV-type histopathology. We conclude that PmRab7 is involved in WSSV infection in shrimp. This is the first study to identify a shrimp protein that binds directly to a major viral envelope protein of WSSV.White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a viral pathogen that emerged in the early 1990s and has since spread throughout Asia and to the Americas. Diseased shrimp are lethargic and slow swimming and show reduced feed consumption. Histopathology has revealed that WSSV-infected shrimp tissues are of ectodermal and mesodermal origin (3,6,19,39). WSSV is an ellipsoid to bacilliform, enveloped particle of about 275 nm in length and 120 nm in width, with a tail-like appendage at one end. It is the type species of the genus Whispovirus in the family Nimaviridae (36). It is unique, with an infection strategy that does not match infection models of any other known virus, and must therefore be investigated ab initio.All three of the WSSV isolates that have been sequenced have a genome of about 300 kbp, and genetic comparisons have shown a high degree of genetic similarity (16). The availability of the complete WSSV sequence facilitates the global molecular characterization of the virus by genomic and proteomic approaches and has recently led to the discovery of many important WSSV genes, including latency-associated genes (10, 11), immediate-early genes (15), many other nonstructural genes (5,29,30,33), and more than 39 structural genes (6,13,19,31,32,35,43). To date, however, little is known of the interaction between shrimp and WSSV at the cellular and molecular levels.Neutralization experiments with a major WSSV envelope protein, VP28, have shown that it is involved in systemic infection of WSSV (34). It has further been shown that VP28 ...