Real-Time Quantitative PCR Assay for Monitoring of Nervous Necrosis Virus Infection in Grouper Aquaculture

Abstract

ABSTRACT Viral nervous necrosis caused by nervous necrosis virus (NNV) exacts a high mortality and results in huge economic losses in grouper aquaculture in Taiwan. The present study developed a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method for NNV monitoring. The assay showed a strong linear correlation ( r 2 = 0.99) between threshold cycle ( C T ) and RNA quantities, which allowed identification of infected groupers by the C T value and could be exploited to warn of NNV infection prior to an outbreak in grouper fish farms. Real-time qPCR also confirmed the copious content of NNV in grouper fin, similar to that in primary tissues; the result was verified by using in situ reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). This indicated that grouper fin was a suitable sample for NNV detection, in a manner that could be relatively benign to the fish. The rapid spread of NNV infection to the entire population of affected farms was evident. The developed real-time qPCR method is rapid, highly sensitive, and applicable to routine high-throughput detection of large numbers of samples and has potential as a suitable tool for diagnostic, epidemiological, and genetic studies of grouper aquaculture.