Study on Reovirus-like Virus of Eriocheir sinensis

In order to find out the reason for causing shiver disease of Chinese mitten crab ( Eriocheir sinensis ) a virus was isolated from diseased Chinese mitten crab. Symptom of normal crab was positive after it had been infected artificially with preliminary pure virion from the shiver crab. It was decided that this virus could be detected in the blood, intestinal canal and germinative gland. The virus was also infective to Sesarna dehanni . The virion was globose, no envelope and about 55 nm in size by electron microscope observation. The electrophoretype of the viral nucleic acid in 1% agarose was 3/3/4/2 in four different size classes, and total molecular weight was about 20 kb. The nucleic acid should be a dsRNA by the eletrophoretype and the character of sensitivity to RNase and not sensitivity to DNase I. The classification of the virus was proposed to reoviridae family by genome and morphology. The research is significant in the discussing the cause of shiver disease and preventing and tr