Suspension growth can greatly increase the cell density and yield of cell metabolites. To meet the requirements of aquatic industries, a culture model derived from Anguilla anguilla skin was developed using the explant outgrowth and enzyme-digesting passaging methods. These cells were kept in vitro continuously for over 12 months and subcultured 68 times. This heteroploid cell line, designated as ES, can naturally adapt to adherent and suspension growth reversibly under certain temperatures, serum percentages, and inoculum densities, without the need for any microcarriers or special medium additives. The ES cells can continue being highly productive under a temperature range of 15–37 °C and a serum percentage ranging from 3 to 15%. An inoculum density higher than 5 × 10⁵ cells·mL⁻¹ is necessary for the ES cells to turn into suspension efficiently. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene was successfully expressed in the ES cells. The ES cells demonstrated susceptibility to Anguillid herpesvirus (AngHV) and red-spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV). ES is the first natural suspension growth model of aquatic origin; it does not require the processes of suspension domestication and carrier dissolution, making it a promising and cost-effective model for vaccine production, bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing, and cellular agriculture.

Infection of the large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) embryo cell line YCE1 with megalocytivirus strain FD201807 leads to accumulation of capsid-deficient viral intermediates within intracellular vesicles at 48 h post-infection (a phenotype associated with non-lytic egress), which coincides with the initial peak of viral genomic copies. To characterize the host molecular response during this critical stage, we performed time-course RNA sequencing at 24, 48, 96, and 144 hpi. Integrated analysis identified 6661 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 1138 differential alternative splicing (DAS) events affecting 892 genes, with DAS event abundance peaking at 48 h. DAS genes in autophagy and Golgi vesicle transport pathways, both integral to animal innate immunity, were significantly enriched exclusively at this timepoint, featuring novel mutually exclusive exon (MXE) isoforms in gopc (Golgi-associated PDZ and coiled-coil motif containing) and rint1 (RAD50 interactor 1). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of DEGs identified mapk9 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 9) and map1lc3a (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 alpha) as hub genes within modules enriched for autophagy-related functions. Separate co-expression analysis of DAS genes revealed rnf5, rimoc1, and golga4 as hub genes, with gopc exhibiting only a single linkage to rnf5. These findings implied concurrent transcriptional and virus-induced host splicing regulation of vesicle-associated innate defense pathways and suggest that splicing-derived features may serve as potential candidates for diagnostics or prevention against megalocytivirus disease in L. crocea.