Age dependency of nervous necrosis virus infection in barramundi Lates calcarifer (Bloch)

Age‐dependent susceptibility to nervous necrosis virus (NNV) was demonstrated for barramundi (Lates calcarifer). The experiment used juvenile barramundi produced from a single spawning that were challenged consecutively by immersion with a redspotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV) isolate. The dose and environmental conditions (35 ppt salinity and 30 °C) were constant. Fish and water were sampled longitudinally for histopathology and RT‐qPCR analysis to examine the evolution of the disease, virus replication, immune response and release of virus into water. Viral nervous necrosis (VNN) disease occurred in barramundi challenged at 3 and 4 weeks of age while fish challenged at 5, 7 and 9 weeks of age developed subclinical infection. Replication of NNV occurred faster and the concentration of virus reached higher concentrations in the younger fish with clinical disease. Virus isolation and qPCR tests indicated that infectious NNV was released from carcasses into water when fish were affected with clinical disease but not when NNV infection was subclinical. Based on these observations, we consider that carcasses from clinically infected fish have a potentially important role in the horizontal transmission of NNV, and barramundi juveniles should be protected from exposure to NNV until they are 5 weeks of age and reach the disease resistance threshold.     

The immune response in rohu,Labeo rohita (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae) to Argulus siamensis (Branchiura: Argulidae) infection: kinetics of immune gene expression and innate immune response

Argulus siamensis is a major pathogen in freshwater aquaculture. The immune responses of Indian major carp, Labeo rohita to experimental infection of A. siamensis was evaluated by quantitation of immune‐relevant gene expression in head kidney and skin, and serum innate immune parameters through the course of infection. In skin of infected fish, antioxidant genes like natural killer cell enhancing factor (NKEF‐B) and superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) were significantly up‐regulated in addition to lysozyme G and β₂ microglobulin (β₂M). Both tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and toll‐like receptor 22 (TLR22) genes were significantly down‐regulated in skin during early phases of the infection. Most of the genes exhibited significant down‐regulation in head kidney; immunoglobulin (IgM) and β₂M genes being the exceptions which were significantly up‐regulated at 12 h and 3 days post infection. Most of the innate immune parameters like serum complement activity and ceruloplasmin levels showed significant reduction in infected fish. The observed results are indicative of A. siamensis modulating the immune response of rohu by down‐regulation of many immune factors which may explain the susceptibility of rohu to A. siamensis infection. The interaction of this parasite with the host need to be further explored to understand its pathogenesis.     

Resistance of pearlspot larvae,Etroplus suratensis,to redspotted grouper nervous necrosis virus by immersion challenge

Viral nervous necrosis (VNN) affects more than 120 species mostly belonging to the order Perciformes. However, none of the brackishwater species belonging to the family Cichlidae under the order Perciformes are reported to be susceptible. Hence, the present experiment was undertaken to study the susceptibility of the brackishwater cichlid, pearlspot, Etroplus suratensis to NNV. Thirty‐day‐old pearlspot larvae were infected with NNV by immersion. Mortality was recorded till 14 days post‐infection, and the infected larvae were subjected to nested RT‐PCR and histology. The virus was isolated from infected larvae using SSN‐1 cells. To study the replication of the virus in vitro, primary cultured brain cells of E. suratensis and IEK cells were infected with NNV. No mortality was observed in any of the control or experimentally infected larvae. However, the experimentally infected larvae were positive for NNV by nested RT‐PCR and the virus was isolated using SSN‐1 cells. Further, the infected pearlspot brain cells and IEK cells showed cytopathic effect at second and third passage of the virus and they were positive for NNV by nested RT‐PCR. Pearlspot is relatively resistant to VNN although the virus could replicate in the larvae and in cell culture.     

Identification,annotation of Mucin genes in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and their expression after bacterial infections revealed by RNA‐Seq analysis

Mucins are large glycoproteins that cover epithelial surfaces of the body and play important roles in prevention of inflammatory and various infectious diseases. In this study, five membrane‐bound and seven secreted mucin genes in the channel catfish were identified. All these identified mucin genes possess at least one PTS, von Willebrand D (VWD) or SEA domains. The expression of the 12 mucin genes in channel catfish was first studied with infection of Edwardsiella ictaluri and Flavobacterium columnare. Expression difference in MUC13a, MUC13, MUC2 and MUC5b was found in the intestine after E. ictaluri infection. Eight mucin gene expressions (except MUC3a, MUC2, MUC4 and MUC5f) were up‐regulated at 4 hr and down‐regulated after 24 hr in the gill with F. columnare infection. Expression level of MUC2 gene was up‐regulated in the intestine with E. ictaluri infection without no significant change in the gill under the F. columnare infection, which indicate that MUC2 is tissue‐specific gene expression and has different immune respond to two bacterial challenge. Taken together, the study showed mucin from the gill by F. columnare challenge induced an obvious response than mucin from the intestine with E. ictaluri infection.     

High prevalence of betanodavirus barfin flounder nervous necrosis virus as well as red‐spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus genotype in shellfish

Using two serially executed PCRs, the discriminative multiplex two‐step RT‐PCR (DMT‐2 RT‐PCR) following the detection seminested two‐step RT‐PCR (DSN‐2 RT‐PCR), we found a high frequency presence of BFNNV genotype as well as RGNNV in various domestic and imported shellfish. This was definitely different from the previous reports of outbreaks and asymptomatic infection only by the RGNNV genotype in cultured finfish in Korea. Cultivation of NNV entrapped in shellfish was performed successfully by a blind passage. Thus, in an attempt to elucidate the epidemiology of betanodavirus, experiments conducted on 969 shellfish samples concluded that (i) distribution of NNV genotype, especially BFNNV, in shellfish is clearly different from that found in finfish of the world; (ii) unlike RGNNV, which showed a high rate in summer, BFNNV showed no seasonal variation and this result suggests BFNNVs in the marine environment remain fairly constant throughout the year; and (iii) the entrapped virus in shellfish was alive and culturable in vitro. These results are the first report of high level prevalence of in vitro culturable NNV in shellfish, for both BFNNV and RGNNV, which may present a potential risk in transmitting nodaviruses to host species in a marine environment.     

Host,agent and environment interactions affecting Nervous necrosis virus infection in Australian bass Macquaria novemaculeata

Australian bass Macquaria novemaculeata were challenged by immersion with nervous necrosis virus (NNV) at different ages and under controlled conditions to investigate factors affecting disease expression. Fish challenged at 3 weeks of age with 10³ TCID₅₀/ml and higher doses developed clinical disease; a lower dose of 10² TCID₅₀/ml resulted in incidence below 100% and 10¹ TCID₅₀/ml was insufficient to cause infection. Additionally, fish were challenged at 5, 6 and 13 weeks of age at 17 and 21°C to assess the role of the age of the host and water temperature on disease expression. Although Australian bass challenged at all ages had evidence of replication of NNV, only those challenged at 3 weeks of age (20 and 24 days post?hatch [dph]) developed clinical disease. Higher water temperature had an additive effect on disease expression in larvae challenged at 24 dph, but it did not affect the disease outcome in older fish. Finally, isolates of NNV derived from fish with clinical or subclinical disease presentations caused similar cumulative mortality and clinical signs when larvae at 24 dph were challenged, suggesting that agent variation was not responsible for variation in clinical presentation in these field outbreaks of NNV infection.     

Multiple passage of infectious salmon anaemia virus in rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), did not induce increased virus load

The infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) has not been observed to cause natural disease in farmed rainbow trout, Onchorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), but may cause high mortality in farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. In this study, ISAV was passaged 10 times in succession by intraperitoneal injections of serum from previous passage into naïve rainbow trout. The serum viraemia was monitored by real‐time qPCR. The rainbow trout in this study became infected but did not develop ISA. No clinical signs were observed in the rainbow trout in any passage, but replication of ISAV was detected from Day 4 post‐infection (p.i.). Neither increased relative virus loads nor histopathological and immunohistochemical findings consistent with ISA were observed. However, the expression of interferon type I and Mx genes were slightly up‐regulated in the hearts of some individual fish at day 17 p.i. Sequencing of all open reading frames in the ISAV genome of the 10th passage revealed two nucleotide mutations, one in segment 6 coding for the haemagglutinin–esterase (HE) and one in segment 1 coding for the basic polymerase 2 (PB2). The mutation in HE resulted in an amino acid substitution T/K₃₁₂.     

Evaluation of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an animal model for the viral infections of fish

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a laboratory model organism used in different areas of biological research including studies of immune response and host–pathogen interactions. Thanks to many biological tools available, zebrafish becomes also an important model in aquaculture research since several fish viral infection models have been developed for zebrafish. Here, we have evaluated the possible use of zebrafish to study infections with fish viruses that have not yet been tested on this model organism. In vitro studies demonstrated that chum salmon reovirus (CSV; aquareovirus A) and two alloherpesviruses cyprinid herpesvirus 1 (CyHV‐1) and cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV‐3) are able to replicate in zebrafish cell lines ZF4 and SJD.1. Moreover, CSV induced a clear cytopathic effect and up‐regulated the expression of antiviral genes vig‐1 and mxa in both cell lines. In vivo studies demonstrated that both CSV and CyHV‐3 induce up‐regulation of vig‐1 and mxa expression in kidney and spleen of adult zebrafish after infection by i.p. injection but not in larvae after infection by immersion. CyHV‐3 is eliminated quickly from fish; therefore, virus clearing process could be evaluated, and in CSV‐infected fish, a prolonged confrontation of the host with the pathogen could be studied.     

Molecular cloning of sea perch (Lateolabrax japonicus) TLR1 and analysis of its expression pattern after stimulation with various bacteria

Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) play an indispensable role in fish immunity, being involved in pathogen recognition and the triggering of immune reactions. Here, a member of the TLR family, TLR1, from Lateolabrax japonicus was characterized and its expression pattern and intracellular localization were analysed. The full‐length LjTLR1 cDNA (2,755 bp) was found to encode a polypeptide of 827 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence contained three main structural domains: an extracellular leucine‐rich repeat domain, a transmembrane domain and a Toll/IL‐1 receptor domain. Tissue distribution analysis indicated that LjTLR1 was expressed in all of the examined tissues to varying degrees, with the highest levels being measured in the head kidney. In order to assess the antibacterial functions of LjTLR1 during infection, the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio harveyi and Streptococcus agalactiae were used. LjTLR1 was significantly upregulated in the three immune organs (the head kidney, spleen and liver) following bacterial stimulation, and its expression was detected 6 hr after initial exposure. In mRNA in situ hybridization experiments, positive signals were more numerous in the treatment group than the control group, verifying the expression patterns observed. Assessment of the intracellular localization of LjTLR1 revealed it to be present in the cytoplasm. These results indicate the potential role of LjTLR1 in immune responses to bacterial infection. This study enriches our knowledge of L. japonicus immune genes and provides a theoretical basis for further research concerning the antibacterial functions of fish TLRs during infection.     

EDCs‐induced glucocorticoid receptor related genes expression of the river pufferfish,Takifugu obscurus

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are of substantial concern when contaminating waters. We studied gene expression of larvae from river pufferfish, Takifugu obscurus exposed to EDCs. We cloned the full‐ or partial‐length cDNA sequence of genes related to the cortisol pathway, such as the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), heat shock protein (HSP) 70 and 90, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and the FK506‐binding protein 4 (FKBP52). The tissue and time‐dependent expression of mRNA was studied by real‐time PCR in T. obscurus exposed to two representative EDCs (bisphenol‐A and 4‐tert‐octylphenol). HSP70, HSP90, MR and FKBP52 mRNA expression level was much higher than GR and PEPCK expression. GR mRNA expression level was significantly upregulated after 48 h in both EDC‐treated fish groups compared with the control. Both groups also showed down‐regulation patterns after 48 h. The initial expression of PEPCK in both groups was down‐regulated after 24 h. In the bisphenol‐A treated group, the expression of FKBP52 showed substantially high up‐regulation from 6 to 48 h after exposure, and then strikingly reduced its expression level at 72 h. Our results provide insights into the EDCs metabolizing system of T. obscurus and offers baseline information for further research related to the possible use as a bio‐indicator of this commercially important aquaculture fish species.     

Carbohydrate and amino acids metabolic response to heat stress in the intestine of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

The sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is an economic species mainly distributed along the coast of northern China, south‐eastern Russia, Japan, Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Aquaculture industry of A. japonicus has been facing severe challenge of high temperature. In this study, we studied the mRNA expression profiles of eight key metabolic enzymes involved in carbohydrate and amino acids metabolism in A. japonicus under heat stress. The expression of hexokinase, pyruvate kinase and malate dehydrogenase showed downregulated response to heat stress, while the expression of glutamate dehydrogenase, alanine transaminase and branched‐chain aminotransferase showed upregulated response. In addition, the expression of lactate dehydrogenase and glutamate synthase showed no significant difference. We also applied ¹H NMR‐based metabolomics to investigate metabolic changes in the intestine tissue of A. japonicus under heat stress, the results of which revealed nine increased and 10 decreased metabolites in the heat stress group. These response genes and metabolites have potential to become markers for identifying severity of heat stress. More importantly, our findings suggest significant links between gene expression and metabolites changing, highlighting regulation networks of carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism in heat‐stressed A. japonicus.     

谷氨酰胺对斜带石斑鱼GF-1细胞中C-Myc蛋白的表达与神经坏死病毒复制的影响

为探讨C-Myc表达、谷氨酰胺代谢和神经坏死病毒复制三者之间的关系,本研究首先克隆了斜带石斑鱼鳍条细胞(GF-1)中的C-Myc基因(GF-1-C-Myc),结果显示GF-1-CMyc基因cDNA全长814 bp,开放阅读框(ORF)为285 bp,编码95个氨基酸(aa),有亮氨酸拉链结构域与螺旋-环-螺旋(HLH)结构域。实验表达和纯化了GF-1-C-Myc蛋白,并制备其多克隆抗体。采用实时定量PCR技术(qRT-PCR)与免疫印迹法(WB)检测了GF-1-C-Myc基因的表达和神经坏死病毒的复制。结果显示,缺乏谷氨酰胺会同时抑制GF-1-C-Myc基因的表达和神经坏死病毒(NNV)的复制,添加谷氨酰胺可同时促进GF-1-C-Myc的表达和NNV的复制;此外,NNV感染可上调GF-1-C-Myc基因的表达,并显著消耗GF-1细胞培养液中的谷氨酰胺。研究表明,GF-1-C-Myc基因可调控宿主谷氨酰胺代谢,从而有利于神经坏死病毒的复制。本结果为防控NNV的感染提供了参考。     

引起半滑舌鳎(Cynoglossus semilaevis Günther)鱼苗大规模死亡的神经坏死病毒病

2012和2013年,山东某育苗场15–20日龄的半滑舌鳎(Cynoglossus semilaevis Günther)鱼苗出现暴发性大规模死亡,7 d内死亡率高达90%–100%。本研究调查了疾病的发生情况和临床特征,采集病鱼样品进行了组织病理学检查,并运用RT-PCR方法进行了病原的检测和基因序列分析。结果发现,半滑舌鳎鱼苗一般在7月和8月发病,发病时养殖水温为22–24℃。病鱼游泳行为异常,表现为上下翻游、螺旋性游动、全身大幅度波浪状浮动症状,但病鱼体表无出血和溃疡症状。组织病理检查发现,病鱼脑和视网膜组织出现严重的空泡化及坏死。病鱼样品的RT-PCR检测结果全部呈鱼类神经坏死病毒阳性。对得到的RT-PCR产物测序,进行BLAST比对,发现该病毒与鱼类神经坏死病毒的赤点石斑鱼神经坏死病毒(Red-spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus, RGNNV)基因型的相似性达98%以上,而与鱼类神经坏死病毒的其他3个基因型：黄带拟鲹神经坏死病毒(Striped jack nervous necrosis virus,SJNNV)、红鳍东方鲀神经坏死病毒(Tiger puffer nervous necrosis virus, TPNNV)和条斑星鲽神经坏死病毒(Barfin flounder nervous necrosis virus,BFNNV)的相似性仅为71%–78%。由此可以判定,本研究发现的引起半滑舌鳎鱼苗大规模死亡的神经坏死病毒为RGNNV基因型,半滑舌鳎也是鱼类神经坏死病毒的天然宿主。该发现在半滑舌鳎疾病防治和鱼类神经坏死病毒的流行机制研究方面都具有重要意义。     

Chlorella additive increased growth performance,improved appetite and immune response of juvenile crucian carp Carassius auratus

This study was designed to investigate effects of dietary Chlorella meal (CM) additive on growth performance, immune responses and appetite regulation of juvenile crucian carp Carassius auratus (initial body weight: 1.27 ± 0.03 g). Four experimental diets were formulated to contain 0% (CM0), 1% (CM1), 2% (CM2) and 4% Chlorella meal (CM4), respectively. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups with 40 juvenile fish per fibreglass tank for 8 weeks. Weight gain rate, specific growth rate and feed intake increased with increasing dietary CM levels. In contrast, FCR (feed conversion rate) declined with dietary CM levels. No significant differences were observed in moisture, crude protein, crude lipid and ash contents of muscle and liver tissues. Dietary CM addition increased activities of acid and alkaline phosphatase in liver and kidney. Dietary CM up‐regulated the mRNA expression levels of NKEF‐B, MCHII and IgM in kidney, and increased the mRNA levels of NPY and agouti gene‐related protein in the brain, but down‐regulated mRNA levels of MC4R, LEP, LEPR, CART1, CART2 and CCK8 genes. Based on these observations above, this study indicated that dietary CM additive increased growth performance, immune responses and appetite of crucian carp. The results, for the first time, demonstrate a role for the central nervous system in the control of food intake in fish fed dietary Chlorella meal.