The giant tiger prawn Penaeus monodon.
Prawn virus detection kit
CSIRO worked with Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand to produce a kit that can detect the presence of two prawn viruses.
- 31 July 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011
The prawn virus detection kit can detect the presence of both gill-associated virus (GAV) and yellow-head virus (YHV). The kit has been selling well in:
- Australia
- Latin America
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Sri Lanka
- Hawaii
- Myanmar
- Brunei.
The kits are being commercially produced and distributed by:
- BIOTEC, the National Centre for Molecular Biology in Thailand
- Farming Intelligene, a Taiwan-based company.
The issue
Viral diseases, like GAV and YHV have caused over A$40 million in losses to the prawn farming industry, devastating many operations in Asia.
Prawn populations with a low level infection may remain healthy until stressors like water conditions, overcrowding and other diseases could cause the virus to multiply and kill prawns.
The outcomes
The test is highly sensitive and can detect between one and 10 virus molecules, meaning that even low level infections can be detected in prawn populations.
The kit helps farmers:
- source virus-free brood stock and
- monitor virus-free populations to ensure they stay that way.
The market for such a kit in Australia is relatively small, but in areas like Asia and Latin America it is economic to produce the kit commercially.
What CSIRO did
The kit technology was developed by a research team spanning Australia and Thailand, headed by CSIRO’s Dr Peter Walker.
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) provided funding to develop the kit.
The kit can detect the presence of both GAV and YHV, which are closely related. Gill-associated virus poses a major threat to Australia’s farmed prawn stocks, while yellow-head virus is a major killer of farmed prawns in Asia.
The virus test kit uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR), rapidly amplifying the virus gene sequence.
About our researchers
The researchers involved in this project were:
- Dr Peter Walker, Senior principal research scientist
- Dr Jeff Cowley, Senior research scientist.
Find out more about our work in Aquaculture.
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Fast facts
- The kit is able to detect low levels of two prawn viruses
- The kit can detect between one and 10 virus molecules of gill-associated virus (GAV) and yellow-head virus (YHV)
- Viral diseases, like GAV and YHV have caused over A$40 million in losses to the prawn farming industry
- The kit is used in Australia, Asia and Latin America
- The kit allows prawn farmers to source virus-free brood stock and monitor populations, ensuring they remain virus-free
