Pathogenicity of Penaeid Rod-shaped DNA Virus (PRDV) to Juveniles of Six Crustacean Species

Abstract

Pathogenicity of PRDV, the causative virus of penaeid acute viremia (PAV) of kuruma shrimp Penaeus japonicus, to juveniles of 6 economically important crustacean species was examined by infection trials using intramuscular and oral inoculation methods. All tested juveniles died in 2-7 days post-inoculation, when they were injected intramuscularly with the filtered homogenate of artificially infected P. japonicus. After oral inoculation by arbitrary feeding of infected shrimp tissues, P. japonicus, P. chinensis, P. latisulcatus and Metapenaeus ensis showed high susceptibility to the virus, resulting in high mortalities of 90% or 100%. On the other hand, P. semisulcatus and Portunus trituberculatus were significantly less susceptible to the virus compared to the foregoing 4 species, resulting in lower mortalities of 40%.