Immune cells offer insights on billion-dollar virus

Studies have shed light on a disease that has caused billion-dollar losses in a key commercial seafood species.

Insights into the immune system of the Pacific whiteleg shrimp, or king prawn, offer potential routes to mitigate white spot disease, caused by white spot syndrome virus.

The findings, from a pair of studies by Roslin Institute researchers, aid understanding of key organs linked to immunity in the species, of which almost 7m tonnes is produced worldwide each year. 

In one study, scientists examined the shrimp’s hepatopancreas, a combined liver and pancreas organ. They established a method to isolate the nucleus of cells, and were able to investigate the organ’s cells, and associated cells, in detail.

A separate study, the first of its kind, examined the lymphoid organ, which is also closely linked with immunity. The team studied the response to white spot syndrome virus by comparing lymphoid cells from prawns that were exposed to the virus with those from others that were not.

By comparing infected and uninfected cells, the team was able to identify genes linked to infection response.

These results could inform the use of gene-editing to study and potentially mitigate infectious disease in shrimp, including white spot disease, the team suggests. 

Researchers say their work provides useful insight into an understudied, commercially important species, and demonstrates a useful protocol for the study of frozen or archived tissue, or where there is a time delay between tissue sampling and processing.

The studies, published in PLOS One and BMC Genomics, were carried out in collaboration with the University of Exeter and the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.