Development of a PCR assay for the effective detection of Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) and investigation of EHP prevalence in Shandong Province, China

[Display omitted] •A newly developed PCR assay could detect as low as 2 × 101 copies of EHP.•The assay was specific for EHP, and had no cross reaction with five other pathogens.•The specificity and sensitivity of this assay was better than the published EHP PCR methods.•639 P. vannamei samples from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of invertebrate pathology 2021-09, Vol.184, p.107653-107653, Article 107653
Main Authors: Hou, Zi-Hao, Yu, Ji-Yue, Wang, Jing-Jing, Li, Ting, Chang, Lin-Rui, Fang, Yan, Yan, Dong-Chun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei
PCR assay
Penaeus vannamei
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Summary:[Display omitted] •A newly developed PCR assay could detect as low as 2 × 101 copies of EHP.•The assay was specific for EHP, and had no cross reaction with five other pathogens.•The specificity and sensitivity of this assay was better than the published EHP PCR methods.•639 P. vannamei samples from Shandong, China were 51.2% EHP positive in this assay detection. Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP), a recently reported pathogen in the penaeid shrimp, is spreading widely and seriously threatening Penaeus (Litopenaeus) vannamei aquaculture. This study aimed to develop a new and more sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for the effective detection of EHP. An EHP PCR assay with a pair of primers specifically amplifying a 358 bp EHP DNA fragment was developed, which was demonstrated to be capable of detecting as low as 2 × 101 copies of EHP and is specific for EHP without cross reaction with DNA samples prepared from five common shrimp pathogens, including white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic virus (IHHNV), hepatopancreatic parvovirus (HPV), infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV), and yellow head virus (YHV). This new assay is more specific and more sensitive than the previously published EHP PCR methods. With the PCR assay developed in this study, we investigated the prevalence of EHP in four areas of Shandong, China by testing a total of 639 shrimp samples collected from Yantai, Binzhou, Dongying, and Weifang. The results showed that the EHP positive rate reached 51.2%, indicating that EHP is prevalent in shrimp culture in China.
ISSN:0022-2011
1096-0805
DOI:10.1016/j.jip.2021.107653