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Title: Comparison of immune response of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, after multiple and single infections with WSSV and Vibrio anguillarum

Author
item QIAO, GUO - Yancheng Institute Of Technology
item Xu, Dehai
item WANG, ZISHEN - Yancheng Institute Of Technology
item JANG, IN-KWON - Yancheng Institute Of Technology
item QI, ZHITAO - Yancheng Institute Of Technology
item ZHANG, MINGMING - Yancheng Institute Of Technology
item KIM, SU-KYOUNG - Yancheng Institute Of Technology

Submitted to: Fish and Shellfish Immunology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/7/2015
Publication Date: 2/17/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/60492
Citation: Qiao, G., Xu, D., Wang, Z., Jang, I., Qi, Z., Zhang, M., Kim, S. 2015. Comparison of immune response of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, after multiple and single infections with WSSV and Vibrio anguillarum. Fish and Shellfish Immunology. 44:257-264.

Interpretive Summary: White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infects various hosts, spreads rapidly and results in serious loss of the shrimp production in the world. Under the field conditions, multiple infections by more than one pathogen can cause much greater losses in shrimp culture than any single infection. It is not clear why multiple infections caused higher mortality and lead to greater losses in aquaculture. For better understanding the defense mechanism against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and Vibrio anguillarum, transcriptional level of several immune-related genes in shrimp were investigated by quantitative reverse real-time PCR. Results in this study demonstrated that 1) the shrimp in multiple infection groups suffered higher mortality and death occurred more quickly than shrimp with single infection by WSSV or V. anguillarum only; 2) the transcription levels of immune-related genes were depressed in multiple infection groups. The depression of immune genes resulted in decrease of disease resistance and then lead to high mortality. This study provided information for understanding the effect of multiple infections in shrimp production. The results are important for farmers and health managers to develop prevention and management strategies to reduce losses caused by multiple pathogens in aquaculture.

Technical Abstract: Our previous study demonstrated that Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) infected by multiple pathogens showed higher mortality and death occurred more quickly than those infected by a single pathogen [1]. For better understanding the defense mechanism against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and Vibrio anguillarum, immune responses of shrimp were evaluated in this study. The mRNA expression levels of five immune-related genes were analyzed by quantitative reverse real-time PCR, which included proPO-activating enzyme 1 (PPAE1), PPAE2, proPO activating factors (PPAF), masquerade-like serine proteinase (Mas) and ras-related nuclear gene (Ran). Results demonstrated that the transcription was suppressed more intensively in the multiple infection group than those in single infection groups. The transcriptional suppression was directly related to the higher mortality. The hypoimmunity could benefit pathogen invasion, replication and release of toxin in vivo. Results in this study will help to understand immune defense mechanism after shrimp were infected by multiple pathogens in aquaculture.