THE ADVANTAGE OF PERSISTENT VIRAL INFECTIONS (VIRAL ACCOMMODATION) IN CRUSTACEANS AND OTHER ARTHROPODS

摘要

Comparatively little published information is available on the mechanistic response of arthropods to viral pathogens. Interest has changed dramatically due to urgency in solving problems with massive losses in penaeid shrimp cultivation due to viral pathogens. Results of laboratory experiments in the past decade indicate that shrimp and other arthropods respond to viruses in a manner fundamentally different from vertebrates (Table 1) and are capable of a specific, adaptive response that cannot be explained by current knowledge and understanding of their cellular and humoral defenses. A hallmark of the arthropod response is specific tolerance to single and multiple viral infections without gross or histological signs of disease (Flegel, 2001; Manivannan et al., 2002; Otta et al., 2003). The concept of viral accommodation was introduced in 1998 as a simple testable hypothesis to explain this tolerance. Key elements of the hypothesis were an unknown mechanism for specific host memory of pathogens anda role for this memory in dampening viral-triggered apoptosis.