First Isolation of a Herpesvirus (Family <i>Alloherpesviridae</i>) from Great Lakes Lake Sturgeon (<i>Acipenser fulvescens</i>)

Abstract

The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens; LST) is the only native sturgeon species in the Great Lakes (GL), but due to multiple factors, their current populations are estimated to be Alloherpesviridae, with high similarity to a lake sturgeon herpesvirus (LSHV) from Wisconsin, USA. Genomic comparisons revealed ~84% Average Nucleotide Identity between the two isolates, leading to the proposed classification of LSHV-1 (Wisconsin) and LSHV-2 (Michigan) for the two viruses. When naïve juvenile LST were immersion-exposed to LSHV-2, severe disease and ~33% mortality occurred, with virus re-isolated from representative skin lesions, fulfilling Rivers’ postulates. Results collectively show LSHV-2 is associated with epithelial changes in wild adult LST, disease and mortality in juvenile LST, and is a potential threat to GL-LST conservation.

Keywords

• lake sturgeon
• herpesvirus
• great lakes
• disease
• genomics