Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
J Invertebr Pathol. 2019 Mar;162:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2019.02.001. Epub 2019 Feb 5.
The Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus is susceptible to infection by Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1), the only virus known to naturally infect any lobster species. However, P. argus is able to mitigate PaV1 transmission risk by avoiding infected individuals. P. argus may also be susceptible to another lethal virus, White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV). WSSV has not been documented in wild populations of spiny lobsters, but has been experimentally transmitted to six other lobster species from the genus Panulirus. Although WSSV has been detected intermittently in wild populations of shrimp in the Caribbean region, the risk to P. argus has not been evaluated. Potential emergence of the disease could result in fisheries losses and ecological disruption. To assess the risk to P. argus, we tested its susceptibility to WSSV via injection and waterborne transmission. We also tested whether healthy lobsters can detect and avoid conspecifics with qPCR-quantifiable WSSV infections. We found P. argus to be highly susceptible to WSSV via intramuscular injection, with mortality reaching 88% four weeks post inoculation. Panulirus argus was also susceptible to WSSV via waterborne transmission, but WSSV burden was low after four weeks via qPCR. Behavioral assays indicated that P. argus can detect and avoid conspecifics infected with WSSV and the avoidance response was strongest for the most heavily infected individuals - a response comparable to PaV1-infected conspecifics. Panulirus argus is the first spiny lobster found to be susceptible to WSSV in the Americas, but it is possible that a generalized avoidance response by healthy lobsters against infected conspecifics provides a behavioral defense and may reduce WSSV infection potential and prevalence. Preliminary evidence suggests that the infiltration of hemolymph constituents into the urine may be the source of the avoidance behavior and could therefore extend to other directly transmitted pathogens in spiny lobster populations preventing them from becoming common in their population.
加勒比刺龙虾 Panulirus argus 易感染 Panulirus argus Virus 1（PaV1），这是唯一一种自然感染任何龙虾物种的病毒。然而，通过避免感染个体，P. argus 能够降低 PaV1 的传播风险。P. argus 也可能易感染另一种致命病毒——白斑综合征病毒（WSSV）。WSSV 尚未在野生刺龙虾种群中记录，但已通过实验传播到属 Panulirus 的另外六种龙虾物种。尽管 WSSV 已在加勒比地区的野生虾类种群中间歇性检测到，但对 P. argus 的风险尚未进行评估。该疾病的潜在爆发可能导致渔业损失和生态破坏。为了评估对 P. argus 的风险，我们通过注射和水传播的方式测试了其对 WSSV 的敏感性。我们还测试了健康的龙虾是否可以检测到并避免具有可定量 qPCR 的 WSSV 感染的同种个体。我们发现，P. argus 通过肌肉内注射对 WSSV 高度敏感，接种后四周死亡率达到 88%。P. argus 也易通过水传播感染 WSSV，但通过 qPCR 在四周后 WSSV 负荷较低。行为分析表明，P. argus 可以检测到并避免感染 WSSV 的同种个体，且对感染最严重个体的回避反应最强——这一反应与感染 PaV1 的同种个体相当。P. argus 是在美洲首次发现易感染 WSSV 的刺龙虾，但健康龙虾对感染同种个体的普遍回避反应可能提供一种行为防御，并可能降低 WSSV 的感染潜力和流行率。初步证据表明，血淋巴成分渗透到尿液中可能是回避行为的来源，因此可能扩展到刺龙虾种群中其他直接传播的病原体，防止它们在其种群中变得普遍。
