A single amino acid mutation (I1012F) of the RNA polymerase of marine viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus changes in vitro virulence to rainbow trout gill epithelial cells.

unlabelledViral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is separated into four different genotypes (I to IV) with different sublineages (K. Einer-Jensen, P. Ahrens, R. Forsberg, and N. Lorenzen, J. Gen. Virol. 85:1167-1179, 2004; K. Einer-Jensen, J. Winton, and N. Lorenzen, Vet. Microbiol. 106:167-178, 2005). European marine VHSV strains (of genotypes I to III) are, in general, nonpathogenic or have very low pathogenicity to rainbow trout after a waterborne challenge, and here we also show that genotype IVa is nonpathogenic to trout. Despite several attempts, it has not been possible to link genomic variation to in vivo virulence. In vitro virulence to gill epithelial cells (GECs) has been used as a proxy for in vivo virulence, and here we extend these studies further with the purpose of identifying residues associated with in vitro virulence. Genotype Ia (DK-3592B) and III (NO/650/07) isolates, which are pathogenic to rainbow trout (O. B. Dale, I. Orpetveit, T. M. Lyngstad, S. Kahns, H. F. Skall, N. J. Olesen, and B. H. Dannevig, Dis. Aquat. Organ. 85:93-103, 2009), were compared to two marine strains that are nonpathogenic to trout, genotypes Ib (strain 1p8 [H. F. Mortensen, O. E. Heuer, N. Lorenzen, L. Otte, and N. J. Olesen, Virus Res. 63:95-106, 1999]) and IVa (JF-09). DK-3592 and NO/650/07 were pathogenic to GECs, while marine strains 1p8 and JF-09 were nonpathogenic to GECs. Eight conserved amino acid substitutions contrasting high- and low-virulence strains were identified, and reverse genetics was used in a gain-of-virulence approach based on the JF-09 backbone. Mutations were introduced into the G, NV, and L genes, and seven different virus clones were obtained. For the first time, we show that a single amino acid mutation in conserved region IV of the L protein, I1012F, rendered the virus able to replicate and induce a cytopathic effect in trout GECs. The other six mutated variants remained nonpathogenic. IMPORTANCE: This is the first study to clearly link in vitro virulence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) with an amino acid residue in the L protein, a site located in conserved region IV of the L protein. In vitro virulence is documented by induction of cytopathic effects and viability studies of gill epithelial cells, and the observed cellular responses to infection are associated with increased viral replication levels. There are no previous studies addressing the importance of the L protein or the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase for virus virulence in vitro or in vivo. Therefore, the findings reported here should broaden the search for pathogenicity traits in novirhabdoviruses, and there is a possibility that the polymerase participates in defining the host species virulence of various VHSV strains.