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Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

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DAO 149:83-96 (2022)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03661

Characterization of an alloherpesvirus from wild lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens in Wisconsin (USA)

Logan Walker1,2, Kuttichantran Subramaniam2, Pedro H. O. Viadanna2, Jordan A. Vann2, Susan Marcquenski3, Danielle Godard3, Elizabeth Kieran4, Salvatore Frasca Jr.4,7, Vsevolod L. Popov5, Karen Kerr6, Andrew J. Davison6, Thomas B. Waltzek2,*

1Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
2Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
3Bureau of Fisheries Management, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI 53716, USA
4Department of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
5Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, the University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
6MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK
7Present address: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3089, USA
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: In the spring of 2017, 2 adult lake sturgeon (LS) Acipenser fulvescens captured from the Wolf River, Wisconsin (USA), presented with multiple cutaneous plaques that, upon microscopic examination, indicated proliferative epidermitis. Ultrastructural examination of affected keratinocytes revealed particles in the nucleus having a morphology typical of herpesviruses. A degenerate PCR assay targeting the DNA polymerase catalytic subunit (pol) gene of large double-stranded DNA viruses generated amplicons of the anticipated size from skin samples, and sequences of amplicons confirmed the presence of a novel alloherpesvirus (lake sturgeon herpesvirus, LSHV) related to acipenserid herpesvirus 1 (AciHV1). The complete genome (202660 bp) of this virus was sequenced using a MiSeq System, and phylogenetic analyses substantiated the close relationship to AciHV1. A PCR assay targeting the LSHV DNA packaging terminase subunit 1 (ter1) gene demonstrated the presence of the virus in 39/42 skin lesion samples collected from wild LS captured in 2017-2019 and 2021 in 4/4 rivers in Wisconsin. Future efforts to isolate LSHV in cell culture would facilitate challenge studies to determine the disease potential of the virus.


KEY WORDS: Acipenserid herpesvirus 1 · Lake sturgeon herpesvirus · Alloherpesviridae · Hyperplastic dermatitis · Lake sturgeon · Phylogenetics


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Cite this article as: Walker L, Subramaniam K, Viadanna PHO, Vann JA and others (2022) Characterization of an alloherpesvirus from wild lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens in Wisconsin (USA). Dis Aquat Org 149:83-96. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03661

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