The white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) has had a serious economic impact on the global shrimp
aquaculture industry in the past two decades. Although research has clarified a lot about its genome and
structure, the mechanism of how WSSV enters a cell is still unclear. In this study to determine this
mechanism, primary cultured hemocytes were used as an experimental model to observe the process of
WSSV entry because the stable shrimp cell lines forWSSV infection are lacking. After labeling virions and
endosomes with fluorescent dyes followed by observation with a confocal microscope, the results show
that the WSSV colocalizes with early endosomes. Hemocytes are further treated with different endocytic
inhibitors, methyl-b-cyclodextrin (MbCD) and chlorpromazine (CPZ). WSSV still can be detected in the
hemocytes treated with CPZ, but not in the hemocytes treated with MbCD. Thus, we conclude that WSSV
adopts the caveolae-mediated endocytosis to enter the shrimp cell.
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