title: Characterization of an iridovirus from the cultured pig frog Rana grylio with lethal syndrome.
abstract: Three virus isolates, RGV-9506, RGV-9807 and RGV-9808, were obtained from cultured pig frogs Rana grylio undergoing lethal infections. Previously, the first isolate, RGV-9506, was shown to be an iridovirus based on ultrastructural and morphological studies. In the present study, the original isolate, along with 2 recent ones, were more extensively characterized by experimental infection studies, histopathology, electron microscopy, serological reactivity, gel electrophoresis of viral polypeptides and DNA restriction fragments, PCR amplification, and nucleic acid sequence analysis of the major capsid protein (MCP) gene. The 3 isolates were shown to be identical to each other, and very similar to FV3, the type species of the genus Ranavirus (family Iridoviridae). These results suggest that RGV should be considered a strain of FV3, and indicate that FV3-like iridoviruses are capable of causing widespread, severe disease among cultured frogs.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan. jfgui@ihb.ac.cn
authors.forename: Q Y
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Chinchar
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D001483:Base Sequence; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000662:veterinary; D017994:Iridovirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011898:Ranidae / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes