Abstract
A $0.45-{\mu}m$ membrane filter is generally used to remove bacterial contamination during virus extraction from fish samples. However, the number of fish viruses is drastically reduced after filtration with a $0.45{\mu}m$ filter. In this study, we investigated the effect of filters on virus infectivity titer and the change in virus titer and bacterial number following different centrifugation conditions to determine a suitable procedure for virus extraction from fish samples. $10^{4.05}$ and $10^{5.05}TCID_{50}/ml$ of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and $10^{4.05}$ and $10^{4.55}TCID_{50}/ml$ of Oncorhynchus masou virus (OMV) were not detectable after filtration with two types of $0.45-{\mu}m$ filters, except the IHNV titer was reduced by about 10 fold after filter use (company A). No significant difference was found in the virus titer following centrifugation at $880{\times}g$ (30 min) or $3,500{\times}g$ (30 min), whereas IHNV and OMV titers were reduced by about 10 and 10-1000 fold by centrifugation at $14,000{\times}g$ (30 min) and $14,000{\times}g$ (10 and 30 min), respectively. A total of 97.7-99.9% Escherichia coli were eliminated by centrifugation at $880 {\times}g$ (30 min) and $3,500{\times}g$ (30 min). These results show that fish viruses were affected by filtering, even though the effect differed by virus species and filter type. Therefore, centrifugation at $3,500{\times}g$ (30 min) and use of medium with antibiotics may be useful for virus extraction along with a reduction in bacteria.
