Research Team Releases PCR-based Method to Detect Shrimp Disease

TAIWAN - A PCR-based method to detect early mortality syndrome (EMS) of shrimp, developed by a Tainan-based research team led by Dr Chu-Fang Lo, Dean of the College of Life Sciences at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in cooperation with Dr Tim Flegel from Thailand, has been announced by the university.

Dr Lo also announced that the primers and protocol were being put into the public domain, which is definitely thrilling news for shrimp researchers around the world, as it will help to control outbreaks of this disease.

Dr Lo’s team cooperated with Dr Flegel from Mahidol University for the last few months and developed a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method to detect EMS, also called acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), a disease of cultured shrimp.