Immunological and cellular responses to viral infections in Atlantic halibut

The project “Immunological and cellular responses to viral infections in Atlantic halibut” has the main objective to develop tools for the characterization of responses to the diseases viral encephalopathy and rethinopathy (VER) and infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) in Atlantic halibut. Although these viruses have been well characterized at the molecular level, the cellular responses following infection, and how these responses determine the pathogenecity of the infection has not yet been investigated, mostly due to the lack of necessary tools for working assays measuring these responses. Cellular defense mechanisms, both innate and acquired, are especially important in the combat of viral infections. The presence of non-specific and antigen-specific cytotoxic activity have been shown for other fish species. Antigen-specific cytotoxic act ivity has been shown to be connected to the presentation on MHC in these species, therefore the identification and characterization of MHC genes is of crucial importance for the investigation of this response in Atlantic halibut. In addition, the inducti on of apoptosis has been observed following other fish virus infections. As a “preproject”, we want to develop immortalized cell lines or alternatively long term cell cultures , susceptible for virus infection, as this is a key tool for in vitro characterization of the cellular responses against known and new fish viruses in A tlantic halibut