Infections of nervous necrosis virus in wild and cage-reared marine fish from South China Sea with unexpected wide host ranges

• Published in: Journal of fish diseases Vol. 38; no. 6; pp. 533 - 540
• Main Authors: Liu, X D, Huang, J N, Weng, S P, Hu, X Q, Chen, W J, Qin, Z D, Dong, X X, Liu, X L, Zhou, Y, Asim, M, Wang, W M, He, J G, Lin, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Animals; cage-reared fish; Capsid Proteins - genetics; China; Fish Diseases - epidemiology; Fish Diseases - virology; Fisheries; Host Specificity; Host-Pathogen Interactions; nervous necrosis virus; nested RT-PCR; Nodaviridae - classification; Nodaviridae - genetics; Nodaviridae - isolation & purification; Nodaviridae - physiology; Oceans and Seas; Phylogeny; RNA Virus Infections - epidemiology; RNA Virus Infections - veterinary; RNA Virus Infections - virology; seminested RT-PCR; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; South China Sea; wild fish; China; ISEW, South China Sea; South China Sea; cage-reared fish; seminested RT-PCR; nested RT-PCR; nervous necrosis virus; wild fish
• ISSN: 0140-7775; 1365-2761
• DOI: 10.1111/jfd.12265

The concerns about the impact of the nervous necrosis virus (NNV) infections in wild fish have been raised. This paper presents the results of quarterly surveys of NNV in wild and cage‐reared marine fish from South China Sea. Samples of 892 wild fish belonging to 69 species and 381 cage‐reared fish belonging to 11 species were collected and were detected by seminested PCR and nested PCR. In the case of seminested PCR, the positive signal was detected in 3.0% and 3.1% samples of wild and cage‐reared fish, respectively. However, by nested RT‐PCR, the positive signal was observed in 42.3% and 63.0% samples of wild and cage‐reared fish, respectively. If the fish species were considered, the positive signal was detected in 21.7% and 72.7% species of wild and cage‐reared fish by seminested PCR assay, respectively. However, by nested RT‐PCR, the positive signal was observed in 65.2% and 100% species of wild and cage‐reared fish, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of the nested PCR products were determined. Phylogenetic tree showed that all the obtained viral isolates belonged to the red‐spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV) genotype. Thirty‐five species of the marine fish were the new hosts of NNV.