Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Development of molecular diagnostic procedures for the detection and identification of herpes-like virus of abalone (Haliotis spp.)

Funded Activity Summary

Currently, diagnosis of abalone ganglioneuritis associated with infection by the recently discovered herpes-like virus is dependent on visualisation of gross clinical signs at the macroscopic level, of histological lesions at the light microscopic level and of virus particles at the electron microscopic level. Thus, while detection of diseased abalone is relatively straightforward it is labour-intensive and time-consuming. The purpose of this project is to develop molecular diagnostic procedures for the rapid, sensitive and specific detection and identification of abalone herpes-like virus infections in the presence, or absence, of clinical signs. Thus potential broodstock that are apparently healthy can be screened for the presence of herpes-like virus, sub-clinical, infections prior to on-farm use.

In addition to surveillance tools for detection and identification of sub-clinical infections, better procedures/reagents for overt disease diagnosis are required. While the presence of histological lesions provides a presumptive diagnosis, the development of in situ hybridisation probe(s) and/or diagnostic antiserum for the localisation of abalone herpes-like virus within histological lesions will provide a means for definitive diagnosis to be made with increased confidence.

Furthermore, in addition to providing an enhanced capability and capacity for disease diagnosis (detection and identification of herpes-like virus), development of molecular reagents and procedures will assist future research aimed at better understanding the pathogenesis (e.g. tissue distribution of the virus, effect of host factors such as age) and epidemiology (e.g. determination of host and geographic ranges, modes of transmission) of this disease. Such knowledge is crucial for efficient management of current and future disease outbreaks.


Objectives:
1. To purify the herpes-like virus from infected abalone
2. To extract, clone and sequence the entire viral genome and align it to the Ostreid herpesvirus-1 genome
3. To develop a sensitive and specific PCR assay for detection and identification of abalone herpesvirus
4. To develop an in situ hybridisation assay specific for the abalone herpesvirus
5. To document a draft Australian and New Zealand Standard Diagnostic Procedure (ANZSDP) and submit for external review

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 24-06-2007

End Date: 01-10-2008

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $344,132.78

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Ageing | AVG | Fisheries Management | Recreational Fishing | Resource Access And Allocation | Resource Assessment | Stakeholder | Stock Assessment | Survey | Tagging

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