Characterization of a Novel Picornavirus Isolate from a Diseased European Eel (Anguilla anguilla)

• Published in: Journal of Virology
• Main Authors: Fichtner, Dieter, Philipps, Anja, Groth, Marco, Schmidt-Posthaus, Heike, Granzow, Harald, Dauber, Malte, Platzer, Matthias, Bergmann, Sven M., Schrudde, Daniela, Sauerbrei, Andreas, Zell, Roland
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2013
• Subjects: Genetic Diversity and Evolution; Anguilla anguilla; European eel
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3807381; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23885066; https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01094-13

A novel picornavirus was isolated from specimens of a diseased European eel (Anguilla anguilla). This virus induced a cytopathic effect in eel embryonic kidney cells and high mortality in a controlled transmission study using elvers. Eel picornavirus has a genome of 7,496 nucleotides that encodes a polyprotein of 2,259 amino acids. It has a typical picornavirus genome layout, but its low similarity to known viral proteins suggests a novel species in the family Picornaviridae.