Antiviral therapy in shrimp through plant virus VLP containing VP28 dsRNA against WSSV

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is marked as one of the most economically devastating pathogens in shrimp aquaculture worldwide. Infection of cultured shrimp can lead to mass mortality (up to 100%). Although progress has been made, our understanding of WSSV’s infection process and the virus–host–environment interaction is far from complete. This in turn hinders the development of effective mitigation strategies against WSSV. Infection models occupy a crucial first step in the research flow that tries to elucidate the infectious disease process to develop new antiviral treatments. Moreover, since the establishment of continuous shrimp cell lines is a work in progress, the development and use of standardized in vivo infection models that reflect the host–pathogen interaction in shrimp is a necessity. This review critically examines key aspects of in vivo WSSV infection model development that are often overlooked, such as standardization, (post)larval quality, inoculum type and choice of inoculation procedure, housing conditions, and shrimp welfare considerations. Furthermore, the usefulness of experimental infection models for different lines of WSSV research will be discussed with the aim to aid researchers when choosing a suitable model for their research needs.

Section: Virulence According To the Strainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rnai-based Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Infection Models and Their Usefulness for White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) Research in Shrimp

Cox,

De Swaef,

Corteel

et al. 2024

“…These specific dsRNA fragments, known as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), confer sequence specificity in subsequent steps that lead to the degradation of target viral mRNA inhibiting viral replication [ 63 ]. In shrimp, the use of vp28 and vp37 siRNA effectively eliminates WSSV virions from M. japonicus [ 64 , 65 ] and Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone) [ 66 , 67 ] shrimp, challenged with WSSV, demonstrating the efficiency of siRNA-based RNAi as a technique to combat viral infections in shrimp. YHV-specific dsRNA-injected shrimp targeting the RdRp and rr2 genes do not exhibit yellowhead disease after the YHV challenge [ 68 , 69 , 70 ].…”

Section: Current Therapeutic Strategies To Minimize the Impacts Of Vi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous research investigations have employed sequence-specific dsRNA to impede the replication of viruses such as TSV, IHHNV, YHV, WSSV, LSNV, and GAV in shrimp [ 71 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 103 ]. These studies involve the targeted suppression of particular genes such as Vp28 [ 67 ], Vp37 [ 65 ], rr2 [ 70 ], V9 [ 97 ], rab7 [ 80 ], a caspase-3 protein [ 131 ], and others ( Table 2 ).…”

Section: Evaluation Of Rnai As a Remedy To Combat Viral Infectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNAi-Based Therapy: Combating Shrimp Viral Diseases

Alam,

Islam,

Das

et al. 2023

Shrimp aquaculture has become a vital industry, meeting the growing global demand for seafood. Shrimp viral diseases have posed significant challenges to the aquaculture industry, causing major economic losses worldwide. Conventional treatment methods have proven to be ineffective in controlling these diseases. However, recent advances in RNA interference (RNAi) technology have opened new possibilities for combating shrimp viral diseases. This cutting-edge technology uses cellular machinery to silence specific viral genes, preventing viral replication and spread. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of RNAi-based therapies in various model organisms, paving the way for their use in shrimp health. By precisely targeting viral pathogens, RNAi has the potential to provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to combat viral diseases in shrimp aquaculture. This review paper provides an overview of RNAi-based therapy and its potential as a game-changer for shrimp viral diseases. We discuss the principles of RNAi, its application in combating viral infections, and the current progress made in RNAi-based therapy for shrimp viral diseases. We also address the challenges and prospects of this innovative approach.

“…The proteins of most viruses assemble in an icosahedral or helical symmetry around their genome. This is a self-assembly process that has also been observed only with the protein subunits without their genome [ 21 ], and there are more complex assemblies requiring additional viral (or host) factors [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. An icosahedron is defined by 20 triangular faces and 12 vertices related by two-, three-, and five-fold axes of rotational symmetry [ 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Observation of a Very High Swelling of Bromovirus Members at Specific Ionic Strengths and pH

Segovia-González,

Villagrana-Escareño,

Ríos-Ramírez

et al. 2023

Cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) and brome mosaic virus (BMV) are naked plant viruses with similar characteristics; both form a T = 3 icosahedral protein capsid and are members of the bromoviridae family. It is well known that these viruses completely disassemble and liberate their genome at a pH around 7.2 and 1 M ionic strength. However, the 1 M ionic strength condition is not present inside cells, so an important question is how these viruses deliver their genome inside cells for their viral replication. There are some studies reporting the swelling of the CCMV virus using different techniques. For example, it is reported that at a pH~7.2 and low ionic strength, the swelling observed is about 10% of the initial diameter of the virus. Furthermore, different regions within the cell are known to have different pH levels and ionic strengths. In this work, we performed several experiments at low ionic strengths of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 and systematically increased the pH in 0.2 increments from 4.6 to 7.4. To determine the change in virus size at the different pHs and ionic strengths, we first used dynamic light scattering (DLS). Most of the experiments agree with a 10% capsid swelling under the conditions reported in previous works, but surprisingly, we found that at some particular conditions, the virus capsid swelling could be as big as 20 to 35% of the original size. These measurements were corroborated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) around the conditions where the big swelling was determined by DLS. Therefore, this big swelling could be an easier mechanism that viruses use inside the cell to deliver their genome to the cell machinery for viral replication.