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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323283
Title: Genome sequence analysis of CsRV1: a pathogenic reovirus that infects the blue crab Callinectes sapidus across its trans-hemispheric range

Author
item FLOWERS, EMILY - University Of Maryland
item BACHVAROFF, TSVETAN - University Of Maryland
item WARG, JANET - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item Neill, John
item KILLIAN, MARYLEA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item SOMMER VINAGRE, ANAPAULA - University Of Rio Grande Do Sul
item BROWN, SHANAI - University Of Maryland
item ALMEIDA, ANDREA - University Of Maryland
item SCHOTT, ERIC - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/19/2016
Publication Date: 2/10/2016
Citation: Flowers, E.M., Bachvaroff, T.R., Warg, J., Neill, J.D., Killian, M., Sommer Vinagre, A., Brown, S., Almeida, A., Zhan, Y., Schott, E.J. 2016. Genome sequence analysis of CsRV1: a pathogenic reovirus that infects the blue crab Callinectes sapidus across its trans-hemispheric range. Frontiers in Microbiology. 7:126. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00126.

Interpretive Summary: The blue crab is an important crustacean in the food chain on the east coast of the U.S. A reovirus that infects blue crabs was isolated and the genomic characteristics of the virus are presented here. The genome encodes 13 proteins on 12 RNAs contained within the virus. Only three proteins could be assigned function based on comparison of known proteins from other reoviruses. Comparison the sequence of this virus isolated on the east coast with those isolated from Brazil shows that there is genetic variation and that this variation can be used to distinguish location of isolation. This study is basis for further investigations of these viruses looking at pathogenicity and evolutionary divergence of the virus within geographical separated populations of blue crab.

Technical Abstract: The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun 1896), which is a commercially important trophic link in coastal ecosystems of the western Atlantic, is infected in both North and South America by C. sapidus Reovirus 1 (CsRV1), a double stranded RNA virus. The 12 genome segments of a North American strain of CsRV1 were sequenced using Ion Torrent technology. Putative functions could be assigned for 3 of the 13 proteins encoded in the genome, based on their similarity to proteins encoded in other reovirus genomes. Comparison of the CsRV1 RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) sequence to genomes of other crab-infecting reoviruses shows that it is highly similar to reoviruses found in Scylla serrata and Eriocheir sinensis and supports the idea that there is a distinct “Crabreovirus” genus, different from Seadornavirus and Cardoreovirus. A section of the CsRV1 RdRP gene was then amplified and sequenced from 15 infected crabs from across the geographic range of C. sapidus. Pairwise analysis of predicted protein sequences shows that CsRV1 strains in Brazil can be distinguished from those in North America based on conserved residues in this gene. The sequencing, annotation, and preliminary population metrics of the genome of CsRV1 should facilitate additional studies in diverse disciplines, including structure-function relationships of reovirus proteins, investigations into the evolution of the Reoviridae, and biogeographic research on the connectivity of C. sapidus populations across the Northern and Southern hemispheres.