Abstract
Over the last 30 years, aquaculture has become the fastest growing form of agriculture production in the world, but its development has been hampered by a diverse range of pathogenic viruses. During the last decade, a large number of viruses from aquatic animals have been identified, and more than 100 viral genomes have been sequenced and genetically characterized. These advances are leading to better understanding about antiviral mechanisms and the types of interaction occurring between aquatic viruses and their hosts. Here, based on our research experience of more than 20 years, we review the wealth of genetic and genomic information from studies on a diverse range of aquatic viruses, including iridoviruses, herpesviruses, reoviruses, and rhabdoviruses, and outline some major advances in our understanding of virus-host interactions in animals used in aquaculture.
Highlights
Aquaculture has become the fastest and most efficient agricultural production industry in the world over the last three decades, and China is believed to be a major contributor to it [1–3]
‘croaking’?” has been asked [9–11]. To help resolve these problems, researchers have looked for and identified a large number of diverse pathogenic viruses in aquaculture and natural aquatic animals including iridoviruses, herpesviruses, reoviruses and rhabdoviruses; these pathogenic iridoviruses have been found to be the cause of epizootic diseases in aquaculture animals and the global decline of amphibian populations [12–15]
Frog virus 3 infection results in considerable morbidity and mortality in a wide range of wild and cultivated amphibian species [32–35]. (ii) European sheatfish virus is a fish ranavirus isolated from moribund sheatfish (Silurus glanis) fry [36]. (iii) Epizootic hematopoietic necrosis virus is a fish ranavirus that causes serious hematopoietic necrosis in redfin perch and rainbow trout, resulting in serious economic losses in aquaculture and severe decline in wild populations of these fish [37]. (iv) Rana grylio virus (RGV)
Summary
Iridoviruses (family Iridoviridae) comprise the following five genera: Ranavirus, Lymphocystivirus, Megalocytivirus, Iridovirus and Chloriridovirus. The genomes of this family of viruses generally contain a single molecule of double-stranded DNA [19,20]. Lymphocystivirus and Megalocytivirus infect more than 140 species of aquatic vertebrates including fish, amphibians and reptiles, and cause high mortality in aquaculture and problems with wildlife conservation [19–21]. Diverse ranaviruses (genus Ranavirus) have been reported to infect about 70 amphibian species from at least 14 families, more than 100 fish species and dozens of reptiles; some experts believe that ranaviruses infect frogs and numerous different aquatic vertebrates, and are, promiscuous pathogens of cold-blooded vertebrates [24–33]. JQ654586 AY150217 AY521625 EU627010 AY666015 AF389451 JQ231222 KC865735 KF033124 KF512820
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