Virome of noble crayfish populations in Switzerland

The noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) is listed as endangered in Switzerland. The survival of this species is, as for other crayfish species, threatened by various factors, such as habitat loss, competition with invasive crayfish species, rising temperatures and the crayfish plague. However, apart from the crayfish plague, only a few other diseases have been studied and their effects on crayfish health are largely unknown. The aim of this project is to investigate the presence of viruses in swiss noble crayfish. For this purpose, next-generation sequencing was performed on RNA samples extracted from organ pools (hepatopancreas, heart, gills) of 6 populations of noble crayfish.