• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.87-95
• /
• 1997

Baculovirus associated with white spot syndrome (WSBV) is the causative agent of a disease with high mortalities and causes severe damage to shrimp cultures. In this study, we analyzed a recombinant clone (E3) obtained from a viral genomic library to characterize the causative agent in diseased shrimp Penaeus chinensis with white spot syndrome. According to the analysis of nucleotide sequence of E3, this clone did not showed considerable sequence homology with those of other known viruses, including baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV), indicating that WSBV is a novel virus causing a serious disease in P. chinensis. Based on the sequence of E3 clone, a pair of PCR primers was designed. After 30 cycles of amplification, a specific product of the expected size was detected only if the total nucleic acids extracted from the diseased shrimp was used as a template DNA, suggesting that this method can be used to diagnose the virus infection in diseased shrimp.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.432-442
• /
• 2020

Diagnostic monitoring in Korean rockfish cages was performed to survey the prevalence of pathogens in cultured Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli from May 2013 to July 2016. A total of 1,945 fish samples collected from the western (Cheonsu Bay and Heuksando), southern (Tongyeong and Namhae), and eastern coasts (Pohang) of Korea were tested for parasites, viruses, and bacteria. In this study, 1,264 and 334 fishes were infected with Microcotyle sebastis and Clavinema mariae, respectively. The prevalence rates of C. clavinema in fishes from Cheonsu Bay, Heuksando, and Tongyeong were 35.3%, 3.9% and 1.9%, respectively. No C. clavinema infection was detected in cultured rockfish from Namhae and Pohang. Furthermore, bacteria including Photobacterium damselae (8.9%), Photobacterium piscicola (2.3%), Photobacterium spp. (8.9%), Aeromonas salmonicida (1.8%), Aeromonas spp. (0.9%), Vibrio scophthalmi (1.5%), Vibrio spp. (3.3%), Streptococcus iniae (1.2%), and others (8.0%) were detected in 373 of 1,364 fishes. No virus was detected in any fish investigated in this study.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.320-326
• /
• 2022

Most of the emerging diseases that threaten humans are caused by RNA viruses which are extremely mutable during evolution. The fish RNA virus, viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) can infect a broad range of aquatic animal hosts, but the transmissibility of VHSV to mammals has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the potential adverse effects of VHSV in mammals. Briefly, the survival of VHSV was determined using only minimum essential media (MEM-2) and mammalian SNU-1411 and hepa-1c1c7s cells at 15℃ and 37℃. Mice (Mus musculus, 27.3 ± 1.9 g) were intravenously injected with VHSV (2.37E+05 TCID₅₀·mice^-1) in triplicate. Clinical signs and survival rates were examined at 14 days post-challenge, and infection was confirmed in the surviving mice. The 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID₅₀) and polymerase chain reaction analysis were used to determine viral titers and the infection rate, respectively. The titer of VHSV suspended in MEM-2 at 15℃ was reduced by only one log after 8 days, whereas the virus maintained at 37℃ was inactivated 8 days post-inoculation (dpi). There were no recognizable cytopathic effects in either SNU-1411 or hepa-1c1c7s cells inoculated with VHSV at 15℃ and 37℃. VHSV in those cell lines at 37℃ was rapidly decreased and eventually inactivated at 12 dpi, whereas virus at 15℃ remained at low concentrations without replication. In vivo experiment showed that there were no signs of disease, mortality, or infection in VHSV-infected mice. The results of this study indicate that it is highly unlikely that VHSV can infect mammals including humans.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2024

The advantages of replicon vectors of RNA viruses include a high ability to stimulate innate immunity and exponential amplification of target mRNA leading to high expression of foreign antigens. The present study aimed to construct a DNA-layered nervous necrosis virus (NNV) replicon vector system in which the capsid protein gene was replaced with a foreign antigen gene and to compare the efficiency of foreign antigen expression between the conventional DNA vaccine vector and the present replicon vector. We presented the first report of a nodavirus DNA replicon-based foreign antigen expression system. Instead of a two-vector system, we devised a one-vector system containing both an NNV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase cassette and a foreign antigen-expressing cassette. This single-vector approach circumvents the issue of low foreign protein expression associated with the low co-transfection efficiency of a two-vector system. Cells transfected with a vector harboring hammerhead ribozyme-fused RNA1 and RNA2 (with the capsid gene ORF replaced with VHSV glycoprotein ORF) exhibited significantly higher transcription of the VHSV glycoprotein gene compared to cells transfected with either a vector without hammerhead ribozyme or a conventional DNA vaccine vector expressing the VHSV glycoprotein. Furthermore, the transcription level of the VHSV glycoprotein in cells transfected with a vector harboring hammerhead ribozyme-fused RNA1 and RNA2 showed a significant increase over time. These results suggest that NNV genome-based DNA replicon vectors have the potential to induce stronger and longer expression of target antigens compared to conventional DNA vaccine vectors.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.165-176
• /
• 1997

Water samples collected from marine fish culture system in Korea were compared for their capability to reduce the infectivity titers of HRV (rhabdovirus olivaceus), FBV(flounder birnavirus) and RVS(retrovirus of salmonid). In addition, interaction between viruses and microorganisms present in the rearing seawater was examined. The titer of HRV and RVS were reduced at $15^{\circ}C$ to less than detectable limits within 3 to 5 days using untreated samples of seawater. No reduction of infectivity was noted in bacteria-free water treated by filtration or autoclaving. Bacteria (Pseudomonas and Vibrio sp.) isolated from the water collected from a flounder culture system showed the inactivation activity of HRV.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.644-649
• /
• 2019

Killed vaccines, developed by inactivation with formalin, have been investigated for many fish viruses. In this study, the inactivation of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) by formalin was investigated based on the infectivity titer. When viral cell culture supernatants were used, the infectivity titer decreased 1,000-fold at 1 d after treatment with 0.1% (v/v) formalin, but was below the detection limit at 7 and 14 d. Moreover, neither the N nor G gene were detectable by RT-PCR immediately after formalin treatment. In western blot analysis, N protein was not detected by rabbit antiserum against VHSV KR-9225 from 2 d after formalin treatment. On the other hand, when we used a virus that was purified and concentrated ~100 times, the infectivity titer was maintained at 10^6.05 TCID₅₀/mL, even at 14 d after formalin treatment, and no change in the viral structural proteins was observed. This study provides important data on the production and use of formalin-inactivated vaccines.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2019

We developed and subsequently characterized mouse antibodies (MAbs) against viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV, genotype IVa), the causative agent of VHS. Five hybridoma clones secreting MAbs against VHSV were established. The MAbs recognized the glycoprotein (MAbs 2C10, 18H4, 23H6, and 30B7) and nucleocapsid protein (15E10) of VHSV by western blot analysis. All five MAbs reacted with VHSV-infected cells and tissue homogenates of VHSV-infected olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) by western blot analysis. Whereas, no reactivity was observed in normal cells and tissue homogenates of normal olive flounder. Moreover, these MAbs reacted with VHSV, but did not react with other fish viruses (infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, hirame rhabdovirus, spring viraemia of carp virus, infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, marine birnavirus, and nervous necrosis virus) by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). These results indicate that the MAbs are specific to VHSV and can be of value in VHSV detection.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2017

The Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) belongs to the family Gadidae; it is a cold water fish, and has been developed as a novel aquaculture species in Korea. In this study, we describe ongoing surveillance for aquatic animal pathogens based on growth stages. We investigated bacterial flora in rearing water, and monitored pathogens; we also analyzed histopathological traits of abnormal fish. In rearing water, the total bacterial counts were $2.1{\times}10^3cfu/mL$ and Vibrio spp. (52%) were predominant in the larvae stage. In the juvenile and adult stages, the total bacterial counts were $3.4{\times}10^3$ and $3.2{\times}10^2cfu/mL$, respectively (with Pseudomonas sp. as the predominant species; 90% and 52%). This result revealed that the bacterial flora in rearing water changed depending on the feeding types. No virulent-bacteria or problematic viruses (VHSV, viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus; NNV, nervous necrosis virus; MBV, marine birnavirus) were detected from outwardly healthy fish using either culture or PCR assay. Some juveniles (less than 5%) had gas bubbles on the gill lamellae, degeneration of the corneal epithelium, and choroid gland degeneration, suggesting that these symptoms were caused by external injury and secondary infection by opportunistic bacteria. Disease management is important to cope with disease emergence in the novel aquaculture species Alaska pollock.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.30 no.7
• /
• pp.625-629
• /
• 2020

The Ocean is a rich source of diverse living organisms include viruses. In this study, we examined the microbial communities in the sea adjacent to Jeju Island in two seasons by metatranscriptomics. We collected and extracted total RNA, and, using the next-generation sequencing HiSeq 2000 and de novo transcriptome assembly, we identified 652,984 and 163,759 transcripts from the March and December samples, respectively. The most abundant organisms in March were bacteria, while eukaryotes were dominant in the December sample. The bacterial communities differed between the two samples, suggesting seasonal change. To identify the viruses, we searched the transcripts against a viral reference database using MegaBLAST with the most identified being bacteriophages infecting the marine bacteria. However, we also revealed an abundance of transcripts associated with diverse herpesviruses in the two transcriptomes, indicating the presence or possible threat of infection of fish in the sea around Jeju Island. This data is valuable for the study of marine microbial communities and for identifying possible viral pathogens.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.171-180
• /
• 2001

Compared to other gene transfer system, the advantages of retrovirus-mediated gene transfer are technical ease, efficient expression and genetic stability. Despite the high potency of the retrovirus vector system in gene transfer, one of the drawbacks is a difficulty in concentration of virus stock. To overcome this problem, we tested a new retrovirus vector system producing the progeny retrovirus particles encapsidated with VSV-G (vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein). The infectivity of this virus was not sacrificed by ultracentrifugal concentration and the host cell range extended from all mammalian to fish embryos. Virus titer after 1,000 x concentration was more than 10$^{8}$ CFU/ $m\ell$ on most of the target cell lines. We applied this pantropic viruses in transgenic chicken production by injecting the concentrated (100$\times$) stock into subgerminal cavity of stage X chicken embryos. The survival rate of chicken embryos after injection was about 20% and gene integration rate in surviving embryos was scored almost 100%. Analyses of RT-PCR and fluorescence microscopy, however, showed no evidence of the transgene expression.