A MEGALOCYTIVIRUS INVOLVED IN DARK BODY DISEASE OF CLIMBING PERCH (Anabas testudineus) CULTURED IN VIETNAM

Abstract

     Dark body disease has become a serious problem for climbing perch, Anabas testudineus, cultured in freshwater intensive farming systems in Vietnam. Outbreaks of the disease occur when the fish are about 20-65 days old with 40 - 100% mortality. The main clinical signs of the disease are dark body, haemorrhagic or yellowish liver, and little or no food in the intestines. The disease has recently been attributed to a virus of unknown type. Electron microscopy analysis detected the virus in liver and kidney tissues but not in brain tissues of infected fish. The virion has a symmetric shape with a size of about 150-160nm and is surrounded by a capsid layer. Using primers designed to sequence the major capsid protein (MCP) gene of red seabream iridovirus (RSIV) yielded PCR products from DNA of infected fish. In a phylogenetic analysis based on the partial MCP sequence, the virus clustered with viruses in the genus Megalocytivirus of the family Iridoviridae and it is closely related to infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV). This study indicated the involvement of a Megalocytivirus in the dark body disease of climbing perch cultured in Vietnam.