Metagenomic identification of a nodavirus and a circular ssDNA virus in semi-purified viral nucleic acids from the hepatopancreas of healthy Farfantepenaeus duorarum shrimp.

Fisheries and aquaculture are impacted sporadically by newly emerged viral diseases. In most cases, searches for a causative pathogen only occur after a serious disease has emerged. As random shotgun sequencing (metagenomics) offers opportunities to identify novel viruses preemptively, the method was tested on nucleic acids extracted from the hepatopancreas of 12 healthy northern pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum captured from the Gulf of Mexico.