Cell culture isolation of piscine neuropathy nodavirus (PNN) from juvenile sea bass, Dicentrachus labrax
Abstract
A virus causing a vacuolating encephalopathy and retinopathy in juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, was isolated from brain tissue in a fish cell line (SSN-1) derived from striped snakehead, Channa striatus. The isometric, non-enveloped, 30 nm diameter virus particles were resistant to pH 2–9 and heating at 56 °C for 30 min. Infectious particles had a buoyant density of approximately 1.31 g/cm3 in CsCl. Two structural polypeptides of molecular mass 40 and 42 kDa were identified and the ssRNA consisted of two fragments of molecular mass 1.10 and 0.51 × 106 Da. From these characteristics the virus was identified as a nodavirus. Due to the broad range of susceptible fish hosts and the consistent neuropathology of the disease condition, the generic term piscine neuropathy nodavirus (PNN) is proposed for this infectious agent.
Citation
Journal of General Virology (1996) 77 (9) 2067-2071 [doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-77-9-2067]