Study of white spot syndrome baculovirus infection process in Penaeus monodon by in situ hybridization.

The tissue sections of artificially infected shrimp (Penaeus monodon) sampled at different times were hybridized in situ with digoxigenin (DIG)-labeled WSSV DNA probe in order to dynamically study the viral infection process in shrimp body. Feeding the healthy Penaeus monodon with diseased shrimp tissues which was confirmed to be typically infected with WSSV. The results showed that WSSV firstly infected and replicated in the epithelial cells of alimentary tract, the viral particles then released with the host cell lysis. The dissociative viral particles proceeded to infect other target tissues following hemolymph circulating in the shrimp body till the shrimp got diseased or died.