Novel DNA virus isolated from samples showing endothelial cell necrosis in the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica

Abstract

Economic loss due to viral endothelial cell necrosis of eel (VECNE) of Anguilla japonica is a serious problem for the cultured Japanese eel market. However, the viral genome responsible for VECNE is unknown. We recently developed a rapid determination system for viral nucleic acid sequences (RDV) to determine viral genome sequences. In this study, viral DNA fragments were obtained using RDV, and approximately 15-kbp circular full genome sequences were determined using a next-generation sequencing system, overlapping PCR, and Southern blot analysis. One open reading frame (ORF) was homologous to the large T-antigen of polyomavirus; other ORFs have no homology with any nucleic or amino acid sequences of polyomavirus. Therefore, as this DNA virus might comprise a novel virus family, we provisionally named it Japanese eel endothelial cells-infecting virus (JEECV). JEECV was detected in both naturally and experimentally infected eels, suggesting that JEECV potentially causes VECNE.

Concurrence of Iridovirus, Polyomavirus, and a Unique Member of a New Group of Fish Papillomaviruses in Lymphocystis Disease-Affected Gilthead Sea Bream

“…Currently JEECV is not assigned to any known viral family due to the lack of sequence similarities beyond that of the large T antigen, which was proposed to have been acquired by recombination from a polyomalike virus coinfecting a fish host (42). Our findings support this hypothesis, providing evidence for the existence of a potential source of the large T antigen gene found in JEECV.…”

Viral diseases of wild and farmed European eel Anguilla anguilla with particular reference to the Netherlands

“…With regard to A. rostrata, only 3 publications briefly report on the isolation or detection of pathogenic viruses (T. Sano 1976, McAllister & Owens 1995, Shih 2004. At least one virus has now been found in A. japonica and not in A. anguilla or A. rostrata (Mizutani et al 2011). Concerning the introduction of new viruses via the import of foreign eel species, it is worth mentioning that A. anguilla is currently considered a critically endangered species by the IUCN (Freyhof & Kottelat 2010), and the export of live A. anguilla is hence restricted (CITES 2007).…”

Identification of an avian polyomavirus associated with Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae)

“…In the T-Ag dataset, we also included the T-Ag-like sequences encoded by Bandicoot papillomatosis carcinomatosis virus 1 and 2 (BPCV-1 and -2, respectively) (Woolford et al, 2007) and Japanese eel endothelial cells-infecting virus (Mizutani et al, 2011) and selected avian papillomavirus E1 sequences (to root the tree). These datasets were aligned using MUSCLE (Edgar, 2004).…”