Mini Review: Virus Interference: History, Types and Occurrence in Crustaceans

Virus interference is a phenomenon in which two viruses interact within a host, affecting the outcome of infection of at least one of such viruses. The effect of this event was first observed in the XVIII century and it was first recorded even before virology was recognized as a distinct science from microbiology. Studies on virus interference were mostly done in the decades between 1930 and 1960 in viruses infecting bacteria and different vertebrates. The systems included in vivo experiments and later, more refined assays were done using tissue and cell cultures. Many viruses involved in interference are pathogenic to humans or to economically important animals. Thus the phenomenon may be relevant to medicine and to animal production due to the possibility to use it as alternative to chemical therapies against virus infections to reduce the severity of disease/mortality caused by a superinfecting virus. Virus interference is defined as the host resistance to a superinfection caused by a pathogenic virus causing obvious signs of disease and/or mortality due to the action of an interfering virus abrogating the replication of the former virus. Different degrees of inhibition of the superinfecting virus can occur. Due to the emergence of novel pathogenic viruses in recent years, virus interference has recently been revisited using different pathogens and hosts, including commercially important farmed aquatic species. Here, some highly pathogenic viruses affecting farmed crustaceans can be affected by interference with other viruses. This review presents data on the history of virus interference in hosts including bacteria and animals, with emphasis on the known cases of virus interference in crustacean hosts.Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs)Escherichia coli [(Migula 1895) Castellani & Chalmers 1919]Aedes albopictus (Skuse 1894)Liocarcinus depurator (Linnaeus 1758): urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:107387Penaeus duorarum (Burkenroad 1939): urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:158334Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus 1758): urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:107381Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man 1879): urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:220137Penaeus vannamei (Boone 1931): urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C30A0A50-E309-4E24-851D-01CF94D97F23Penaeus monodon (Fabricius 1798): urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3DD50D8B-01C2-48A7-B80D-9D9DD2E6F7ADPenaeus stylirostris (Stimpson 1874): urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:584982

The seasonal entrance of Penaeus setiferus and Penaeus duorarum postlarvae into Términos Lagoon, Campeche, México

This study establishes the season for the immigration (recruitment) of Penaeus setiferus and P. duorarum postlarvae into Términos Lagoon, México, as well as the hydrological conditions that occur during this event. The abundance of postlarvae of both species was used to infer the reproductive period for each species. The zooplankton collection was carried out monthly for three years. The nets used were 50 cm in diameter, 1.5 m in length and 505 μm mesh size, and temperature and salinity were measured with an YSI. The fluvial discharges were taken from Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA). The harmonic pattern variation (HPV) was analyzed for each variable (density of postlarvae, salinity, temperature and fluvial discharge). A cycle was analyzed and divided into two episodes (rise and descent) to estimate the HPV of each postlarval species. The entrance of both postlarval species starts from June to September, with higher density in August, which decreases from October to May, with the lowest density in March. The first episode was established from June to August and the second episode in September. During the first episode the hydrological conditions were: high salinity (34), a warm temperature (30ºC) and low accumulated fluvial discharge (2,828 m3 s-1), while, in the second, they were low salinity (28), a moderately warm temperature (29ºC) and high accumulated fluvial discharge (3,934 m3 s-1).

A COMMUNITY ANALYSIS OF THE SOFT BOTTOM MEGAFAUNA (CRUSTACEA, MOLLUSCA) FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN REGION OF SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN

Soft bottom megabenthic communities have been poorly studied in the Caribbean Sea. In this study we describe the structure and species composition of a Crustacea-Mollusca megafaunal community based on beam trawl samples taken between 13 and 60 m depth at the southwestern region of Santa Marta, Colombian Caribbean. Classification and ordination analyses using abundance data of crustaceans and molluscs produced two main groups (A and C), which seem to be controlled by depth and sediment characteristics. Group A consisted of species collected at the deeper stations and high content of silts (between 30 and 60 m depth) and exhibited the highest density and biomass mean values. The decapod Chasmocarcinus cilindricus was found as the characteristic species for the group A. The bivalve Laevicardium pictum occurred as characteristic in the shallower cluster C (14 to 17 m) where the sediment was coarser. Trachypenaeus similis, Portunus spinicarpus, Lupella forceps and Penaeus duorarum were generalist species for both groups and were found as the most abundant species overall. There was not a clear evidence of temporal variation of the groups, however an increase in the abundance of dominant species at the shallower area during March may be related to the upwelling phenomenon known for the Santa Marta area.