Isolation and Genomic Characterisation of <i>Lymphocystivirus platichthys1</i> in Brackish‐Water Cultured Spotted Seabass <i>Lateolabrax maculatus</i> in Zhuhai, South China

Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) stands as one of the most widespread causative agents affecting a diverse array of teleost globally. According to the literature, LCDV encompasses four species, and Lymphocystivirus paralichthys1 (known as LCDV-C) has long been regarded as the predominant national epidemic isolate in mainland China. In this study, two instances of severe mass mortalities associated with LCDV in brackish-water cultured juvenile spotted seabass in Zhuhai, South China, were monitored starting from early April 2023. The death toll in these two cases peaked at approximately 4000 and 10,000 fish per day, respectively, with cumulative mortalities reaching around 70% within 19 days of the disease outbreak. Based on clinical symptoms, histopathological analyses and transmission electron microscopy observations, the diseases were diagnosed as LCDV infections. The virus was isolated using the Mandarin fish fry (MFF-1) cell line and named LCDV-ZH04/23. Subsequently, LCDV-ZH04/23 was roughly purified, and its entire genome was sequenced and annotated. The results indicated that ZH04/23 consists of 102,661 base pairs, encodes 108 putative viral genes and has a G/C content of 29.3%. Genomic collinearity analysis revealed that the whole genome of ZH04/23 exhibits the highest similarity (99.9%) to the well-known Lymphocystivirus platichthys1 (LCDV-1) from Europe, but shows significant divergence from the other three LCDV species. Collectively, this study marks the first isolation and characterisation of L. platichthys1 at the whole genome level from cases of severe mass mortalities in pond-cultured spotted seabass in China. Moreover, it is the first to identify L. platichthys1 as an emerging pathogen in cultured spotted seabass.