A new strain of white spot syndrome virus affecting Litopenaeus vannamei in Indian shrimp farms

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV)-infected shrimp samples collected from grow-out ponds located at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India, showed WSSV negative and positive by PCR using primer sets specific to ORF119 and VP28 gene of WSSV, respectively. This indicated the deletion of genetic fragments in the genome of WSSV. The WSSV isolate along with lab strain of WSSV was subjected to next-generation sequencing. The sequence analysis revealed a deletion of 13,170 bp at five positions in the genome of WSSV-NS (new strain) relative to WSSV-TH and WSSV-LS (lab strain). The PCR analysis using the ORF's specific primer sets revealed the complete deletion of 10ORFs in the genome of WSSV-NS strain. The primer set was designed based on sequence covering ORF161/162/163 to amplify a product of 2,748bp for WSSV-LS and 402bp for WSSV-NS. Our surveillance programme carried out since 2002 revealed the replacement of WSSV-LS by WSSV-NS in Indian shrimp culture system.