Use of non-radioactively labeled DNA probes for the detection of a baculovirus from Penaeus monodon by in situ hybridization on fixed tissue.

Clones isolated from a genomic library of the baculovirus PmSNPV (= MBV) were used to prepare DNA probes for detection of PmSNPV in shrimp tissue. Davidson's AFA fixed shrimp tissues were probed using DNA that had been labeled with the hapten, digoxigenin, by an in situ hybridization assay. The DNA probes readily distinguished PmSNPV-infected from uninfected shrimp tissue. The reactions were localized to the hepatopancreas and midgut, the sites where this virus is detected by standard histological methods. The probes did not react to shrimp infected with Baculovirus penaei (BP = PvSNPV).