Meta-Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Novel RNA Viruses in Hippocampus erectus

Fan Zhang; Zhihao Ren; Xiaomeng Guo; Yiting Wang; Fanzeng Meng; Weifeng Shi; Xinping Wang; Xuan Dong

doi:10.3390/v15030772

Meta-Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Novel RNA Viruses in Hippocampus erectus

Viruses. 2023 Mar 17;15(3):772. doi: 10.3390/v15030772.

Authors

Fan Zhang^{1

2}, Zhihao Ren³, Xiaomeng Guo^{2

4}, Yiting Wang², Fanzeng Meng², Weifeng Shi⁵, Xinping Wang¹, Xuan Dong^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Marine Science and Biological Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China.
² Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Key Laboratory of Maricultural Organism Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Qingdao Key Laboratory of Mariculture Epidemiology and Biosecurity, Qingdao 266071, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
⁴ College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China.
⁵ Shanghai Institute of Virology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China.

Abstract

Lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus, is an important aquatic animal due to its medicinal and ornamental purposes. However, our understanding of the viral spectrum in H. erectus is still limited. Here, we studied the viruses in H. erectus using meta-transcriptomic sequencing. A total of 213,770,166 reads were generated and assembled de novo into 539 virus-associated contigs. Three novel RNA viruses from the Astroviridae, Paramyxoviridae, and Picornaviridae families were finally identified. In addition, we identified a strain of nervous necrosis virus from H. erectus. In particular, the unhealthy group showed a higher viral diversity and abundance than the normal group. These results revealed the diversity and cross-species transmission of viruses in H. erectus and highlighted the threat of viral infections to H. erectus.

Keywords: Hippocampus erectus; RNA virus; seahorse; transcriptomic; virome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Gene Expression Profiling
RNA Viruses* / genetics
Smegmamorpha* / genetics
Transcriptome
Viruses* / genetics

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Shinan District Science and Technology Foundation (Qingdao) (2022-2-027-ZH), Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, YSFRI, CAFS (20603022022005), Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, CAFS (NO.2020TD39).