Novel Gammaherpesvirus Infections in Narrow-Ridged Finless Porpoise (<i>Neophocaena asiaeorientalis</i>) and False Killer Whales (<i>Pseudorca crassidens</i>) in the Republic of Korea
Sung Bin Lee,
Kyung Lee Lee,
Sang Wha Kim,
Won Joon Jung,
Da Sol Park,
Seyoung Lee,
Sib Sankar Giri,
Sang Guen Kim,
Su Jin Jo,
Jae Hong Park,
Mae Hyun Hwang,
Eun Jae Park,
Jong-pil Seo,
Byung Yeop Kim,
Se Chang Park
Affiliations
Sung Bin Lee
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Kyung Lee Lee
Cetacean Research Institute, National Institute of Fisheries Science, Ulsan 44780, Republic of Korea
Sang Wha Kim
College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea
Won Joon Jung
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Da Sol Park
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Seyoung Lee
College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea
Sib Sankar Giri
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Sang Guen Kim
Department of Biological Sciences, Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Republic of Korea
Su Jin Jo
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Jae Hong Park
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Mae Hyun Hwang
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Eun Jae Park
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Jong-pil Seo
College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea
Byung Yeop Kim
Department of Marine Industry and Maritime Police, College of Ocean Science, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea
Se Chang Park
Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
A female narrow-ridged finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis) stranded on a beach on Jeju Island showed epithelial proliferative skin lesions on its body. Two false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), caught using nets near Gangneung and Samcheok, respectively, had multiple plaques on their penile epidermis. Histological examination of the epidermis revealed that all the lesions had common features, including accentuated rete pegs, ballooning changes, and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion (INI) bodies. Based on the histopathological results, herpesvirus infection was suspected, and thus further analysis was conducted using herpesvirus-specific primers. Based on nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests using the herpesvirus-detectable primers, the PCR products demonstrated two fragments: a 222-base-pair (bp) sequence of the DNA polymerase gene, SNUABM_CeHV01, showing 96.4% identity with a bottlenose dolphin herpesvirus from the Jeju narrow-ridged finless porpoise; and a 222 bp sequence of the DNA polymerase gene, SNUABM_CeHV02, showing 95.95% identity with the same bottlenose dolphin herpesvirus from the Gangneung and Samcheok false killer whales. The significance of this study lies in its ability to demonstrate the existence of novel cetacean herpesviruses in South Korean seawater, representing an important step forward in studying potentially harmful pathogens that affect endangered whale and dolphin populations.
