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An Iridovirus Isolated from Wild Largemouth Bass
Author(s) -
Plumb John A.,
Grizzle John M.,
Young Helen E.,
Noyes Andrew D.,
Lamprecht Scott
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of aquatic animal health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1548-8667
pISSN - 0899-7659
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8667(1996)008<0265:aiifwl>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , biology , micropterus , iridovirus , cytopathic effect , virus , minnow , inoculation , virology , swim bladder , viremia , centrarchidae , cytoplasm , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , immunology
During July through September 1995, about 1,000 adult largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides died in Santee‐Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina. Necropsy of two moribund largemouth bass (each weighing about 2 kg and measuring about 50 cm) revealed no parasites or bacterial infection. Fathead minnow (FHM) cell cultures inoculated with filtered homogenate from the swim bladder of one fish and the swim bladder and liver of the second fish developed cytopathic effect 48 h after inoculation. Media from infected cell cultures contained up to 10 8.9 TCID50/mL of a 0.45‐μm filterable agent (TCID50 is the tissue culture infective dose that affects 50% of innoculated cultures). Electron microscopy of infected FHM cells revealed a cytoplasmic, icosahedral virion that averaged 132 nm from facet to facet and 145 nm from corner to corner. Viruses acquired an envelope upon passing through the plasma membrane. Studies of virus replication inhibition by pyrimidine analogs were inconclusive in classifying the nucleic acid. The virus was isolated from all organs of experimentally infected adult largemouth bass 8 and 26 d postinjection. No infected fish died, but an inflamed, necrotic lesion developed at the injection site. Although virulence of the virus is uncertain, this is the first published report of a viremia associated with a mass mortality of wild centrarchids. Tentatively classified in the Iridoviridae, we propose “largemouth bass virus” (LMBV) as its name.