Cloning and Sequence Analysis for ATPase Gene Core Sequence of Sciaenop Ocellatus Iridovirus

By using a pair of primers based on the ATPase gene of RSIV, a special nucleic acid band with about 560bp in length has been amplified from the spleen of Sciaenop Ocellatus infected with some acute epizootic disease. The PCR product was cloned into vector pOEM~ -T Easy, and the result of sequence analysis showed that it was precisely 563bp in length which was consistent with the amplified product from RSIV by using the same primers. Comparing the PCR product with the opening reading frames (ORFS) of ATPase genes of several vertebrate iridoviruses, we found that the sequence homology between the piscine iridoviruses and the Frog Virus 3 was over 40%, and the sequence homologies were over 95.6% among the piscine iridoviruses. So we conclude that iridovirus was the main pathgeon caused the acute disease of Sciaenop Ocellatus, and we temporarily name it Sciaenop Ocellatus Iridovirus (SOI). Our sequence analyses also showed that the several piscine iridoviruses which resulted in systemic diseases in fish might belong to the same genus, but they surely are included neither in the genus Ranavirus nor in the genus Lymphocystivirus. In fact, we presume that they might belong to a new genus of Iridoviridae.