Monodon baculovirus of shrimp.

Among the viruses infecting penaeid shrimp, monodon-type baculovirus (MBV) otherwise known as Penaeus monodon singly enveloped nuclear polyhedrosis virus (PmSNPV), is one of the widely reported and well described viruses. It is a rod-shaped, enveloped, double-stranded DNA virus, and considered till recently, as the type A baculovirus. Besides MBV, two strains of SNPV are reported-plebejus baculovirus and bennettae baculovirus. MBV was reported to be originated from Taiwan and has wide geographic distribution and is reported to be enzootic in wild penaeids of the Indo-pacific coasts of Asia. The virus also has diverse host-range including a variety of cultured and captured shrimp species and freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. MBV has been reported in all life stages of P. monodon with late larval, postlarval and young juvenile as the most susceptible stages/ages. However, MBV has not been documented in early larval stages. Although MBV has been reported to be tolerated well by shrimp, the infection has been attributed to decreased productivity. The target organs or tissues of MBV are the hepatopancreatic tubules and duct epithelium of postlarvae, juveniles and adults, and the anterior midgut epithelium of very young postlarvae. The prominent clinical sign of infection is the presence of multiple spherical inclusion bodies in the hepatopancreas and midgut epithelial cells. The major mode of transmission of the virus is horizontal through oral exposure to occlusion bodies, contaminated tissues or fomites. Minor morphometric variation of the virus has been reported among different isolates. The rod-shaped enveloped virus particles range from 265-324 nm in length and 42-77 nm in diameter. Although complete genome sequence of MBV is not available, nucleic acid of MBV is circular, double-stranded DNA with a genome size ranging from 80 to 160 kbp. The virus codes for a 53 kDa major polyhedrin polypeptide and two minor 47 and 49 kDa polypeptides. A variety of diagnostic tools have been reported for this virus including real-time PCR and LAMP-based detection. Taxonomic position is still uncertain and International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses lists MBV as a tentative species named PemoNPV in the genus Nucleopolyhedrovirus. However, according to the latest genomic information on the virus, it has been suggested to create a new group of non-occluded bacilliform viruses called nudiviruses with MBV as one of the members. The aim of the current work is to describe the knowledge on the status, distribution and host-range, pathology, transmission, virus structure and morphogenesis, genomic characteristics, diagnosis and the latest taxonomic position of MBV.