Cell culture isolation of piscine neuropathy nodavirus from juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax

A virus causing a vacuolating encephalopathy and retinopathy in juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, was isolated from brain tissue in a fish cell line (SSN-1) derived from striped snakehead, Channa striatus, The isometric, non-enveloped, 30 nm diameter virus particles were resistant to pH 2-9 and heating at 56 degrees C for 30 min, Infectious particles had a buoyant density of approximately 1.31 g/cm(3) in CsCl, Two structural polypeptides of molecular mass 40 and 42 kDa were identified and the ssRNA consisted of two fragments of molecular mass 1.10 and 0.51 x 10(6) Da, From these characteristics the virus was identified as a nodavirus. Due to the broad range of susceptible fish hosts and the consistent neuropathology of the disease condition, the generic term piscine neuropathy nodavirus (PNN) is proposed for this infectious agent.