Endangered wild salmon infected by newly discovered viruses

Mordecai, Gideon J; Miller, Kristina M; Di Cicco, Emiliano; Schulze, Angela D; Kaukinen, Karia H; Ming, Tobi J; Li, Shaorong; Tabata, Amy; Teffer, Amy; Patterson, David A; Ferguson, Hugh W; Suttle, Curtis A

Fish were screened against a viral disease detection biomarker panel (VDD) that elucidates a conserved transcriptional pattern indicative of an immune response to active RNA viral infection (Miller et al., 2017) . For instance, in a previous study, we showed that 31% of moribund Atlantic salmon were in a viral disease state, and half of these were not known to be positive for any known RNA viruses (Di Cicco et al., 2018) . Individuals that were strongly VDD-positive, but negative for any known salmon viruses (e.g. Piscine orthoreovirus, Erythrocytic necrosis virus, Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, Infectious salmon anaemia virus and Pacific salmon paramyxovirus) were subject to metatranscriptomic sequencing. The sequencing revealed viral transcripts belonging to members of the Arenaviridae, Nidovirales and Reoviridae, eLife digest Keystone species are animals and plants that play a pivotal role in supporting the ecosystems they live in, making their conservation a high priority. Chinook and sockeye salmon are two such species. These fish play a central role in the coastal ecosystems of the Northeast Pacific, where they have supported Indigenous populations for thousands of years.