In a recent study published in the journal Plos Pathogens, researchers from the Virologie et Immunologie Moléculaires - VIM and Infectiologie Expérimentale des Rongeurs et Poissons - IERP units (INRAE, Jouy-en-Josas) shed new light on the study of host-pathogen interactions, having overcome a technological hurdle by obtaining the reverse genetics of this virus and producing optically traceable recombinant viruses. These tools of choice were exploited to establish bath models of infection in ZF embryos (3R) and in carp, the natural host of SVCV; enabling, for the 1st time, visualization of virus replication sites, propagation kinetics and identification of target organs using whole-body imaging. Unexpectedly, the results show that the virus enters through the fins and not the gills as previously reported, and triggers a pro-inflammatory response IL1 deleterious in the absence of infection control. This work opens up new prospects for better understanding the pathophysiology of the disease using a multi-scale approach, and for screening high-throughput, high-content antiviral and immunomodulatory strategies with the ZF cytometer. . 

Contacts

• Christelle Langevin
• Stéphane Biacchesi

Reference
Souto S, Lama R, Mérour E, Mehraz M, Bernard J, et al. (2024) In vivo multiscale analyses of spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) infection: From model organism to target species. PLOS Pathogens 20(8): e1012328. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012328