Establishment and Characterization of a Novel Kidney-cell Line from Orange-spotted Grouper, Epinephelus coioides, and its Susceptibility to Grouper Iridovirus

Grouper, Epinephelus spp., is one of the most important maricultured fish with great economic value, especially in south-east Asian countries. In Taiwan, the annual cultured grouper production is around 4,500 tons. In the last 10 years, iridovirus and nervous necrosis virus (NNV) impacted the grouper industry severely and caused heavy economic losses. 

Developing an ideal cell line for in vitro studies of cell-virus interactions, virus propagation, isolation and vaccine development is critical to disease control in aquaculture. Taiwanese iridovirus isolates consist of three major genotypes : grouper iridovirus (GIV) which belong to Ranavirus, red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV), and infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) that are classified to Megalocystivirus genuses. Hence, development a continuous cell line from tropical fish species for identifying pathogenesis of viral diseases and for vaccine production is imperative. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>