Development of a tropical marine fish cell line from Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) for virus isolation

A tropical marine fish cell line (SF) was established from Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) fry. The cell line was maintained in Earle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) supplemented with foetal calf serum and incubated at 25 degreesC, The susceptibility of the cell-line at the 16th, 35th and 46th subculture to several iridoviruses, birnaviruses, reoviruses, a rhabdovirus, and a nodavirus was studied. Cytopathic effect (CPE) was observed daily after virus inoculation and viral replication efficiency was determined for six viruses. SF cell cultures infected with an iridovirus, a nodavirus and a reovirus were further elucidated by electron microscopy. All the viruses tested were shown to induce CPE on SF cells. This suggests that the SF cell line has good potential for the isolation of various fish viruses. The SF cell line consists predominantly of epithelial-like cells and has been subcultured 85 times over a period of 24 months. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.