Tissue distribution of grouper iridovirus genus Ravavirusin infected farmed juvenile giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus)

Grouper ranavirus infected many grouper species and caused severe mortality. We isolated a grouper iridovirus (genus Ranavirus) named GIV-R-SY130, in Sanya by using cell culture, to study the tissue distribution of GIV-R-SY1301 in experimentally infected farmed Epinephelus lanceolatus by in situ hybridization and real-time PCR. The GIV-R-SY130l was widespreadin all tissues from infectedfish. Strong hybridization signals were obtained from kidney and spleen, while intermediate intensity signals were observed in stomach, gill and liver. The weakest signals were obtained from heart and no signal was found in brain and eye. The real-time PCR results show that there were most viruses copies in spleen, kidney and heart (4.5104~6.85107 copiesg-1) DNA in different tissues, which was similar with the result of in situ hybridization.