This study was performed to confirm the relationship between viral propagation and apoptosis by the infection of marine birnavirus strain (MABV NF-4) on chinook salmon embryo (CHSE-214) cells. After 6 hr viral infection, MABV was detected by PCR method. Also, as a result of DNA assay on the cells, MABV infection resulted in a typical feature of apoptosis, DNA fragmentation. The results suggest that MABV replicated to high concentrations during the early stage of infection induces apoptosis.