Characterization of newly revealed sequences in the Infectious Myonecrosis Virus genome in XXXX .

@entity778 @entity11320 @entity281 @entity2036
UNASSIGNED: @entity778 ( @entity778 ) causes significant economic losses in farmed shrimp, where associated mortality in ponds can reach 70%. To explore host-pathogen interactions, a next generation sequencing approach (NGS) using lymphoid organ (LO) tissue from @entity778 -infected @entity11320 shrimp was conducted. Preliminary sequence assembly of just the virus showed that there were at least an additional 639 base pairs (bp) at the 5' terminus and 23 nt at 3' terminus as compared to the original description of the @entity778 genome (7561 nt). Northern blot and RT-PCR analysis confirmed the presence of novel sequence at both ends of the genome. Using 5' RACE, 4 additional @entity2036 were discovered; 3' RACE confirmed the presence of 22, rather than 23 bp of sequence. Based on these data, the @entity778 genome is 8226 bp in length. Double-stranded RNA was used to trigger RNA interference (RNAi) and suppress expression of the newly revealed genome sections at the 5' end of the @entity778 genome in @entity778 -infected @entity11320 . An RNAi trigger targeting a 376 bp length of the 5'UTR did not improve survival of infected shrimp. In contrast, an RNAi trigger that targets a 381 bp sequence in ORF1 improved survival to 82.2% as compared to 2.2% survival in positive control animals. These studies revealed the importance of the new genome sections to produce high titer @entity281 and associated disease and mortality, in infected shrimp.
