Ostreid herpesvirus: A pathogen of oysters

Abstract

Ostreid Herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1), OsHV-1 μvar and other variants are herpesviruses causing heavy mortalities, with losses ranging from 50 to 100%, on Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), an important species worldwide cultured. Ostreid Herpesvirus-1 is one of the top 50 largest viral genome; OsHV-1 μvar is a variant of the virus OsHV-1 showing a systematic deletion of 12/13 base pairs sequence between ORF4 and ORF5. For the diagnosis of herpesvirus infection, traditional histopathological methods and biomolecular techniques have been developed, but, to confirm the disease, both methods should be used. This mini review reports some studies on the virus.