Exploration of the virome of the European brown shrimp (Crangon crangon).

Crangon crangon is economically a very important species. Recently, promising culture attempts have been made, but a major problem is the uncontrollable mortality during the grow-out phase. As of yet, the life cycle of C. crangon is not closed in captivity so wild-caught individuals are used for further rearing. Therefore, it is important to investigate the virome of C. crangon both in wild-caught animals as in cultured animals. In recent years, next-generation-sequencing (NGS) technologies have been very important in the unravelling of the virome of a wide range of environments and matrices, such as soil, sea, potable water, but also of a wide range of animal species. This will be the first report of a virome study in C. crangon using NGS in combination with the NetoVIR protocol. The near complete genomes of 16 novel viruses were described, most of which were rather distantly related to unclassified viruses or viruses belonging to the Picornavirales, Bunyavirales Nudiviridae, Parvoviridae, Flaviviridae, Hepeviridae, Tombusviridae, Narnaviridae, Nodaviridae, Sobemovirus. A difference in virome composition was observed between muscle and hepatopancreatic tissue, suggesting a distinct tissue tropism of several of these viruses. Some differences in the viral composition were noted between the cultured and wild shrimp, which could indicate that in sub-optimal aquaculture conditions some viruses become more abundant. This research showed that a plethora of unknown viruses is present in C. crangon and that more research is needed to determine which virus is potentially dangerous for the culture of C. crangon.

Development and application of a duplex PCR assay for detection of Crangon crangon bacilliform virus in populations of European brown shrimp (Crangon crangon).

Crangon crangon bacilliform virus (CcBV) was first discovered in 2004 in European brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) caught along the English coast. This study describes a duplex PCR assay developed for the detection of CcBV, based on amplification of the lef-8 gene (211 bp) of CcBV and the E75 gene (105 bp) of C. crangon as an internal amplification control. The lef-8 and E75 primer pairs were designed based on preliminary genome sequencing information of the virus and transcriptomic data available for C. crangon, respectively. Sequencing of the resulting amplicons confirmed the specificity of this PCR assay and sequence analysis of the lef-8 fragment revealed amino acid identity percentages ranging between 31 and 42% with members of the Nudiviridae, proposing that CcBV may reside within this family. Finally, the duplex PCR assay was applied to samples of C. crangon hepatopancreas tissue collected along the Belgian coast to screen for the presence of CcBV. The prevalence of CcBV averaged 87%, which is comparable to previous reports of high prevalence, based upon histological analysis, in shrimp collected along the English coast. Development of a specific and sensitive PCR assay to detect CcBV will provide a useful tool for future aquaculture and research programs involving C. crangon.

Differential transcriptome analysis of the common shrimp Crangon crangon: special focus on the nuclear receptors and RNAi-related genes.

The decapod Crangon crangon is one of the most valuable European fisheries commodities. Despite its economic importance, little sequence data is available for this shrimp species. In this paper, we report the transcriptome sequencing for five different stages of C. crangon (early embryo, late embryo, larva, female adults and male adults) and the annotation and stage-specific expression analysis of nuclear receptors (NRs) and RNA interference (RNAi)-related genes. The NRs are transcription factors that play an essential role in growth, development, cell differentiation, molting/metamorphosis and reproduction, while the RNAi-related genes are very important for internal gene expression regulation and in antiviral defense. We discovered a NR in the female C. crangon which is either a very rapidly evolved homolog of HR10, or a novel NR altogether. This new NR could act as a biological marker for sex determination as it is not expressed in male adults. Most RNAi-related genes were present in C. crangon, proving that the requirements for successful RNAi is present in this decapod shrimp. RNAi-based applications in Crangon such as its use in functional genomics or as antiviral therapeutics could become very important in the near future.

Emerging pharmaceutical therapies of Ascidian-derived natural products and derivatives.

In a growing multidrug-resistant environment, the identification of potential new drug candidates with an acceptable safety profile is a substantial crux in pharmaceutical discovery. This review discusses several aspects and properties of approved marine natural products derived from ascidian sources (phylum Chordata, subphylum Tunicata) and/or their deduced analogues including their biosynthetic origin, (bio)chemical preclinical assessments and known efficacy-safety profiles, clinical status in trials, but also translational developments, opportunities and final conclusions. The review also describes the preclinical assessments of a large number of other ascidian compounds that have not been involved in clinical trials yet. Finally, the emerging research on the connectivity of the ascidian hosts and their independent or obligate symbiotic guests is discussed. The review covers the latest information on the topic of ascidian-derived marine natural products over the last two decades including 2022, with the majority of publications published in the last decade.

Identification and Full Characterisation of Two Novel Crustacean Infecting Members of the Family Nudiviridae Provides Support for Two Subfamilies.

Multiple enveloped viruses with rod-shaped nucleocapsids have been described, infecting the epithelial cell nuclei within the hepatopancreas tubules of crustaceans. These bacilliform viruses share the ultrastructural characteristics of nudiviruses, a specific clade of viruses infecting arthropods. Using histology, electron microscopy and high throughput sequencing, we characterise two further bacilliform viruses from aquatic hosts, the brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) and the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas). We assembled the full double stranded, circular DNA genome sequences of these viruses (~113 and 132 kbp, respectively). Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses confirm that both belong within the family Nudiviridae but in separate clades representing nudiviruses found in freshwater and marine environments. We show that the three thymidine kinase (tk) genes present in all sequenced nudivirus genomes, thus far, were absent in the Crangon crangon nudivirus, suggesting there are twenty-eight core genes shared by all nudiviruses. Furthermore, the phylogenetic data no longer support the subdivision of the family Nudiviridae into four genera (Alphanudivirus to Deltanudivirus), as recently adopted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), but rather shows two main branches of the family that are further subdivided. Our data support a recent proposal to create two subfamilies within the family Nudiviridae, each subdivided into several genera.