In vitro propagation of infectious myonecrosis virus in C6/36 mosquito cell line

Abstract Infectious myonecrosis (IMN) is an important shrimp viral disease caused by infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV). Based on previous reports, an attempt was made to propagate IMNV in apparently healthy C6/36 subclone of Aedes albopictus cell line. The confirmatory assays such as RT‐PCR, real‐time PCR and bioassay revealed that C6/36 cells were found to be susceptible to IMNV and these cells could be used easily for isolation and propagation of IMNV. The results of real‐time PCR assay showed that a lower C T value of 22.25 in IMNV‐infected cells was obtained on 10 day post‐infection (d p.i.), whereas the higher C T value of 35.21 was obtained in IMNV‐infected cells on 2 d p.i. There is no significant difference between C T values of IMNV production in vitro using C6/36 cell line and in vivo using shrimp. The IMNV propagated in C6/36 cells is capable of infecting shrimp and caused 100% mortality in shrimp. Clinical signs observed in shrimp injected with IMNV propagated in C6/36 cell line were found to be similar to naturally infected shrimp.