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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

How to detect new viruses in fish populations?

By Mor, Sunil K et al.·Published in Journal of virological methods·2015·Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: A multiplex RT-PCR assay for the detection of fish picornaviruses.

Plain-English summary

Researchers have developed a new test to detect three recently identified viruses that can affect fish populations in the Great Lakes. This test, called a multiplex RT-PCR assay, is very sensitive and can identify small amounts of the viruses in fish samples. It works well without mixing up results with other similar pathogens. The scientists believe this new tool will help quickly confirm the presence of these viruses and study how common they are in fish.

Abstract

With the emergence of high profile fish diseases in the Great Lakes region, surveillance and regulatory inspections of fish populations have increased. This has resulted in a better understanding of known pathogens and isolation of many new pathogens of fish. In this study, a multiplex RT-PCR assay was developed for the detection of three newly discovered fish picornaviruses: bluegill picornavirus-1 (BGPV-1), fathead minnow picornavirus (FHMPV), and eel picornavirus-1 (EPV-1). This assay was found to be very sensitive with a detection limit of 81.9pg/μl of extracted RNA from a pool of FHMPV and BGPV-1 and was able to detect 501 and 224 gene copies/μl of BGPV-1 and FHMPV, respectively. The assay was highly reproducible and did not cross react with other closely related pathogens. We believe that this new assay provides a rapid and cost effective tool for confirming cell culture isolates and conducting prevalence studies of these newly detected fish picornaviruses.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25962537/