White feces syndrome of shrimp arises from transformation, sloughing and aggregation of hepatopancreatic microvilli into vermiform bodies superficially resembling gregarines.

Accompanying acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in cultivated Asian shrimp has been an increasing prevalence of vermiform, gregarine-like bodies within the shrimp hepatopancreas (HP) and midgut. In high quantity they result in white fecal strings and a phenomenon called white feces syndrome (WFS). Light microscopy (LM) of squash mounts and stained smears from fresh HP tissue revealed that the vermiform bodies are almost transparent with widths and diameters proportional to the HP tubule lumens in which they occur.

Therapeutic effect of Artemia enriched with Escherichia coli expressing double-stranded RNA in the black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon.

We exploited Artemia as a double-stranded (ds)RNA-delivery system to combat viral diseases in shrimp. First, the transformed Escherichia coli (E. coli) expressing red fluorescent protein (RFP) was tested in the Artemia enrichment process.

Novel, anionic, antiviral septapeptides from mosquito cells also protect monkey cells against dengue virus.

We have shown previously that ultrafiltrates (5 kDa cutoff) of cell-free medium from mosquito cell cultures persistently infected with DENV serotype 2 (DENV-2) contained a novel antiviral agent (called viprolaxikine) that could protect pre-treated, naïve mosquito cells from DENV infection. Here, we show that viprolaxikine also reduced DENV-2 titers by almost 4 logs (>99.9%) when compared to Vero cells mock-treated with ultrafiltrates from cultures of uninfected mosquito cells.

Response to Dengue virus infections altered by cytokine-like substances from mosquito cell cultures.

Background: With both shrimp and commercial insects such as honey bees, it is known that stable, persistent viral infections characterized by absence of disease can sometimes shift to overt disease states as a result of various stress triggers and that this can result in serious economic losses. The main research interest of our group is to understand the dynamics of stable viral infections in shrimp and how they can be destabilized by stress. Since there are no continuous cell lines for crustaceans, we have used a C6/36 mosquito cell line infected with Dengue virus to test hypotheses regarding these interactions.