The objective of the study was to clarify the mechanism of persistent infection of marine birnavirus (MABV) in various nonpermissive cell lines. It was observed in CHSE-214, RTG-2 and RSBK-2 that the virus produced at high yield with typical cytopathic effect (CPE). On the contrary, the CPE was not produced in EPC, FHM and BF-2 cells. However amount of virus protein in both permissive and nonpermissive cell lines detected by ELISA was almost the same. Electron microscopy showed virions in permissive cells but not in nonpermissive cells. From the results, it is clear that virus protein and RNA were produced in nonpermissive cells as observed in permissive cells; however, assembly of the virus particles did not occur in nonpermissive cells.