title: Detection of Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1) in exported frozen tails of subadult-adult Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus.
abstract: The Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus is a valuable fishing resource and the trade in frozen lobster tails is an important industry. However, the presence of the pathogenic virus Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1), which causes systemic infection in P. argus and is particularly lethal to juvenile individuals, has not been previously examined in imported/exported lobster products. We used PCR assays to determine the presence of PaV1 in abdominal muscle tissue of 22 frozen P. argus tails exported from Belize to Mexico. Based on their size, the tails belonged to subadult-adult lobsters. Using specific primers targeted for PaV1 resulted in 11 tails showing a specific 499 bp band. The sequence of positive amplified fragments showed a high similarity to PaV1 (95% identity with GenBank accession no. EF206313.1). Although the pathogenicity of PaV1 was not evaluated in the present study, our results provide the first evidence of PaV1 in frozen lobster tails exported in the seafood industry as well as the first molecular evidence of PaV1 in adult lobsters.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Inmunología y Biologia Molecular, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional-Unidad Mérida, Km 6 Antigua Carretera a Progreso, CORDEMEX, Mérida, Yucatán 97310, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Huchin-Mian
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Briones-Fourzán
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simá-Alvarez
authors.forename: Yanis
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cruz-Quintana
authors.forename: Juan Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pérez-Vega
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lozano-Alvarez
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pascual-Jiménez
authors.forename: Rossanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Canul
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017691:Caribbean Region; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000821:virology; D033521:Palinuridae / Q000821:virology*