Scientific Publications

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3

Students in the Bioinformatics, Knowledge, and Data (BCD) track of the Master’s in Science and Digital Technologies for Health (program director: Anna-Sophie Fiston-Lavier) and those in the IMHE Master’s program (program director: Anne-Sophie Gosselin) have just published an international scientific article in thejournal *Viruses*.

This transdisciplinary collaborative project, initiated by Anne-Sophie Gosselin (Professor and Researcher in the Bio-MV Department), Jean-Christophe Avarre (researcher at ISEM-IRD), and Anna-Sophie Fiston-Lavier (lecturer and researcher in the Computer Science Department) duringthe Montpellier Omics Days aimedto break down barriers between these programs by enabling students to pool their skills on a real research project.

The publication titled “ Cyprinid Herpesvirus 3 Evolves In Vitro Through an Assemblage of Haplotypes That Alternately Become Dominant or Under-Represented,” was accepted this summer for publication in the journal *Viruses*. The students’ contributions were recognized, as all students from both program cohorts are co-authors of the paper.

Article summary:

In this publication, the authors studied the evolution of cyprinid herpesvirus type 3 (CyHV-3), a 295-kilobase double-stranded DNA virus that causes carp herpesvirus disease (KHVD). Experimental evolution studies were conducted in vitro by serial passage of a CyHV-3 isolate through common carp cells and by assessing the virus’s virulence over the course of these passages. After 78 passages in cell culture, the isolate proved to be significantly less virulent than the initial isolate. A comparative genomic analysis of the viruses before and after passage 78 revealed a limited number of variations, the most notable of which is a deletion of 1,363 base pairs in the virus’s gene 150. It is interesting to note that this deletion, which is present in the vast majority of viral genomes after 78 passages, is not detected in the wild-type form of the virus (before passage) or after 99 passages. These results, confirmed by digital PCR, suggest that CyHV-3 evolves, at least in vitro, through a dynamic assembly of viral haplotypes, which alternately become dominant or underrepresented.