Global advance of shrimp virus follows evolutionary biology predictions

These remarkable findings have just been published in the online edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

Global shrimp production tripled over the past decade from 750,000 tonnes in the 1990s to more than three billion tonnes over the past five years, severely affecting coastal ecosystems and livelihoods. WSSV is a deadly pathogen for shrimp, and a major threat to shrimp farming for the last two decades. Over time the virus manifested itself more severely. Documented outbreaks in 1992 (China) and 1999 (Ecuador) showed a 70% reduction in local shrimp production in the years after the outbreak. The virus has since spread globally and has even been found in wild crustaceans in Europe.

Wageningen University scientists analyzed samples of the virus in shrimps from five Asian countries, then compared them to each other and published literature on WSSV from Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Thailand. This allowed the authors to clarify which genetic and fitness changes have occurred in the various virus populations since the virus was first discovered.

Deletions

The large genome of the WSSV virus has regions that vary among isolates, which mainly distinguish themselves by missing DNA fragments, or so-called deletions. By lining up a time series of virus samples, the scientists found a remarkable pattern: that the majority of these variable regions disappeared from the genome initially, but that the deletion rate decreased over time in a process that could be mathematically described. Tests with shrimp showed that the virulence of the virus increased accordingly.

Both changes appear to be evolutionary adaptations of the virus to the shrimp farming practices. Additionally the virus seems to have spread over long distances in a short time frame, which points to transportation of infected shrimps as the major factor. Preventing the virus from spreading is a major area of improvement in combating future virus outbreaks in shrimp production systems. Understanding the epidemiology of WSSV at different temporal and spatial scales should lead to further control and containment of the disease.