hanraoldman SOJUBOX

ABSTRACT: This study investigates white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) gene expression levels in the
cells of 2 hosts (Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei). Microarray and expressed sequence
tag (EST) analysis of the mRNA profiles in WSSV-infected P. monodon cells were used to identify
WSSV genes that were very highly expressed. Results showed that the mRNA of the WSSV icp11
gene consistently had the highest copy number of all (3× higher than the major envelope protein,
VP28). At the protein level in WSSV-infected L. vannamei, 2-dimensional gel analysis and liquid
chromatography-nano-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-nanoESI-MS/MS)
protein identification also showed that this WSSV non-structural protein has the highest expression
levels reported to date. ICP11 is capable of self-multimerization, and it becomes located in both the
cytoplasm and nucleus of the host cell. These data suggest that ICP11 plays an important, but
presently unknown, role during viral infection, and that expression of the WSSV icp11 gene/WSSV
ICP11 protein is potentially a good and diagnostically useful indicator of WSSV infection.