Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

TRACKING DOWN AND CHARACTERIZING DIVERGENT STRAINS OF VIRAL SHRIMP PATHOGENS THROUGH MOLECULAR HISTOLOGY: THE CASE OF A NEW GENOTYPE OF DECAPOD HEPANHAMAPARVOVIRUS

Roberto Cruz-Flores1,2 and Arun K. Dhar2

 

1Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, 22860 Ensenada, Baja California, México

 

2Aquaculture Pathology Laboratory, School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

 

robertocruz@cicese.mx

 



Through l aser microdissection  we  selectively isolated 5-15 infected cells from hepatopancreas tubules. DNA extraction utilized the PicoPure ™ DNA Extraction Kit, with subsequent amplification via the SeqPlex DNA Amplification Kit due to limited DNA quantity. Sequencing occurred on an Illumina HiSeq Platform, and de novo assembly was executed using the Geneious Prime assembler. Our findings unveiled a divergent viral sequence, belonging to the Densovirinae sub-family, approximately 63 00 nt long. This novel Parvovirus displayed 85-90 % identity to Penaeus monodon hepadensovirus 1.  Novel sensitive  molecular diagnostic methods (e.g., polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization) confirmed the identity of the virus (Fig 1) . Additionally, robust phylogenetic analysis is underway to clarify the taxonomic affiliation of this potential pathogen. Research indicates a rising trend in hepatopancreas diseases, hinting at multi-pathogen involvement in complex diseases like White Feces Syndrome, Glass Postlarva , and Growth  Retardation Disease of Macrobrachium rosenbergii , possibly originating from a pathobiome. The role of the identified Parvovirus in these diseases is unknown, emphasizing the importance of the newly developed diagnostic methods to evaluate the presence of this pathogen in shrimp populations to understand its impact on complex hepatopancreas diseases.