Potential universal PCR method to detect decapod hepanhamaparvovirus (DHPV) in crustaceans

Abstract

Parvoviruses that infect the hepatopancreas (HP) of the penaeid shrimp Penaeus chinensis, P. monodon, and P. merquiensis were previously called hepatopancreatic parvoviruses (HPV). They are now classified in the family Parvoviridae, sub-family Hamaparvovirinae as members of the same genus called Hepanhamaparvovirus and referred to as decapod hepanhamaparvovirus, designated here as DHPV. However, a virus that causes similar lesions in the HP of the giant river prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii resembles hepanhamaparvoviruses by microscopy and histochemistry. Unfortunately, no genome information is yet available and PCR detection methods that work for DHPV in P. monodon do not work with M. rosenbergii. For hatchery samples of M. rosenbergii in Thailand with DHPV-like lesions, we hypothesized it might be possible to design primer pairs from 8 full DHPV genome sequences at GenBank for use in PCR detection of DHPV in M. rosenbergii. Using this strategy, we successfully designed a new set of primers and a PCR protocol called the DHPV-U method that gave an amplicon with DNA extracts from larvae of M. rosenberigii samples that showed DHPV-like lesions, while extracts from normal larvae gave none. DNA extracts from P. monodon infected with DHPV also gave amplicons. At the same time, the normal PCR method for DHPV in P. monodon gave no amplicon with the M. rosenbergii DNA extracts. The DHPV-U amplicons from P. monodon and M. rosenbergii shared 99% sequence identity, and in situ hybridization (ISH) assays using the DIG-labeled amplicon gave positive histochemical results in the HP tissue of both P. monodon and M. rosenbergii. The DHPV-U method is now being used in Thailand for detection of DHPV in both P. monodon and M. rosenbergii. Overall, the results support the proposal that the HP virus in M. rosenbergii is also a hepanhamaparvovirus. Based on 100% sequence identity of the target region in the currently published DHPV sequences at GenBank, the DHPV-U method may also work for detection of other DHPV isolates.