Emergence of pathogenic betanodaviruses belonging to the SJNNV genogroup in farmed fish species from the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Betanodaviruses are the causative agents of viral nervous necrosis (VNN) or viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER) in cultured marine fish. Based on the RNA2 gene fish nodaviruses have been traditionally classified into four different genotypes and recently a fifth genotype has been proposed. This study presents sequencing data of 24 new nodaviruses obtained from three different fish species: sea bass, Dicentrarchux labrax (L.), sea bream, Sparus aurata L., and Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis Kaup, cultured in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Sequence analysis was performed on the T4 region (388 nt) of the coat protein gene. In addition, phylogenetic analysis, according to maximum parsimony and neighbour-joining methods, was performed using these sequences and other nucleotide sequences available in the databases or in the literature. Results obtained indicate that all these new nodaviruses should be classified into the striped jack nervous necrosis virus (SJNNV) genotype. This finding suggests that SJNNV genotype is emerging in the Iberian Peninsula and could easily spread throughout the Mediterranean, representing a serious threat to the fish farming industry.