Simultaneous presence of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) and Type A virus-related sequence in Penaeus monodon from India

Detection of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) in shrimp is complicated by the fact that certain virus-related sequences are integrated into the genome of Penaeus monodon in some parts of the world, which has been reported so far from Africa and Australia. In this study, we evaluated the highly specific and sensitive diagnostic primer sets for detection of infectious IHHNV and integrated virus-related sequence in 177 samples of P. monodon from India. A nested primer set, IHHNV648F/R and IHHNV309F/R was used to specifically detect infectious IHHNV and not the virus-related sequences. IHHNV was detected in 67.4% postlarvae (PL) and 34% adult samples using this primer set. The OIE recommended primers IHHNV392F/R and IHHNV389F/R gave positive reaction for 86.7% PL and 67% adult samples, while the primer pair 77012F and 77353R gave positive reaction with 46.7% PL and 20% adult samples. These primers were found to detect virus-related sequence integrated into the shrimp genome. The analysis of virus-related sequence by MG831F/R primers showed that 33.7% PL and 31.7% adult shrimp possessed Type A virus-related sequence. 22.8% PL and 10.5% adults had both IHHNV and Type A virus-related sequence. Cloning and sequencing 832 bp virus-related sequence from P. monodon from India revealed presence of five shrimp DNA markers between 439 and 825 bp. This study is the first conclusive report on the presence of Type A virus-related sequence in P. monodon from India.