ESTUDIO de LA POSIBLE INFECCIÓN DE ARTEMIA CON EL
VIRUS DE LA MANCHA BLANCA Y SU TRANSMISIÓN VERTICAL-2001
STUDY OF THE POSSIBLE INFECTION OF Artemia with white spot virus and its vertical transmission (in Spanish)
MSc Thesis in Marine Aquaculture
By L.A. Daqui Loureiro, Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, Facultad de Ingeniería Marítima y Ciencias del Mar, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 42 pp.
Summary:
Artemia is the main feed in larviculture and fish and crustacean reproduction. Its production is limited to a few countries while its commercialisation is world-wide. Since the white spot virus has a large range of hosts among crustaceans, it is possible that Artemia is sensible to the infection. Its extensive international distribution would have very important international sanitary implications in the disease control. This study evaluates the possibility of infection of Artemia with the white spot virus. For this purpose, Artemia was cultivated and the hatching efficiency and synchrony of the cysts were estimated and the level of nutrition was optimised. From the experimental infections in Penaeus vannamei the viral extract was prepared and was quantified by PCR. P. vannamei was used as control of infectivity of the extract. In three experiments, nauplii, juveniles and adults were infected with the virus in 35 ppt and 100 ppt. After reproduction, cysts and nauplii were collected to evaluate a possible vertical transmission. The samples were analysed by PCR and by immunohistochemistry. We intended to develop an internal control for PCR in which Artemia DNA would be amplified but the results were not satisfactory. The samples from the first experiment were positive for PCR but the infection could not be confirmed by immunohistochemistry, which suggests that the presence of virus was superficial and the infection was not active. The rest of the samples were negative for PCR as well as for immunohistochemistry, from which we could conclude that under the experimental conditions Artemia is not sensible to the infection by white spot virus.