Epizootics of Streptococcus agalactiae infection in captive rays from Queensland,Australia

The aim of this study was to describe two epizootics of high mortalities from infection with Streptococcus agalactiae, occurring in captive rays held in a marine display aquarium in south‐east Queensland, Australia, in 2009 and 2010. Five different species of rays were affected, including mangrove whiprays (Himantura granulata), estuary rays (Dasyatis fluviorum), eastern shovelnose rays (Aptychotrema rostrata), white‐spotted eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari) and blue‐spotted mask rays (Neotrygon kuhlii). This report describes the history of both epizootics including collection, quarantine and husbandry of rays, the disease epizootics, clinico‐pathological features of the disease, antimicrobial therapy, autogenous vaccine production, and laboratory studies including clinical and histopathology, bacteriology, PCR, molecular serotyping and sequencing of the bacterium S. agalactiae.     

Characterization of bacteriophage HN48 and its protective effects in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus against Streptococcus agalactiae infections

Streptococcus agalactiae is a causative agent responsible for massive mortalities of tilapia that has led to catastrophic losses to tilapia culture globally. Bacteriophages represent a new class of antimicrobials against bacteria. In this study, we characterized the bacteriophage HN48, which formed small and round‐transparent plaques on a double‐layer plate. With a hexagonal head and a long tail, this phage may belong to the Caudovirales according to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. HN48 was found to have a relatively wide and highly specific host range, to be sensitive to high temperature (60–80°C) and low pH (3–5), and to be relatively stable at alkaline pH (8–10). Intraperitoneal injection with HN48 had no adverse effects on tilapia and effectively inactivated the bacteria in the kidney. Fish that received phage therapy had 60% ± 3.3% survival rates and a delayed mean death time of about 3 days when compared to the control group. To the best of knowledge, this is the first study of tilapia streptococcal phage. Overall, the results indicated that phage HN48 could prevent tilapia from experimental S. agalactiae infection, suggesting it has the potential to control this disease.     

Roles of water quality and disinfectant application on inactivation of fish pathogenic Streptococcus agalactiae with povidone iodine,quaternary ammonium compounds and glutaraldehyde

Streptococcosis is an important bacterial disease in Nile tilapia causing severe economic losses to tilapia aquaculture worldwide. The effects of water quality (low‐ [LS] and high‐level [HS] soiling, to mimic clean or dirty surface conditions and temperatures) and disinfectant application (diluted concentrations and exposure time) were characterized on the inactivation of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from diseased tilapia. Five isolates were tested against three commercial disinfectant products with the main ingredients being povidone iodine (Anidine 100?; AD), benzalkonium chloride (Better BKC 80%?; BKC 80), and a mixture of quaternary ammonium compounds and glutaraldehyde (Chloraldehyde?; CR). CR demonstrated highest efficacy to S. agalactiae inactivation, followed by BKC 80 and AD, respectively. Higher‐level soiling, low temperature, diluted concentrations and short exposure time all decreased the disinfectant efficacy. CR and BKC 80 provided more than 5‐log inactivation at 1‐min exposure at 20°C under HS conditions, and also with ten‐fold‐diluted concentrations at 60‐min exposure time at 30°C. However, AD required 10‐min exposure to effectively remove bacteria under LS conditions at 30°C. The results could facilitate aquaculture management planning that leads to operating cost reductions and improvements in biosecurity.     

广西卵形鲳鲹海豚链球菌基因分型、耐药谱型以及毒力基因检测

为了解近年来广西卵形鲳鲹海豚链球菌流行菌株的基因型信息以及菌株间的差异,对2015—2016年从广西地区7个养殖场的患病卵形鲳鲹体内分离得到的17株海豚链球菌菌株分别进行了基因型分析、耐药谱测定以及毒力基因检测。采用随机扩增多态性DNA标记技术(RAPD)和基因组重复序列PCR(rep-PCR)分析其基因型。结果显示,RAPD和rep-PCR指纹图谱结果一致,17株海豚链球菌可分为2种基因型。对海豚链球菌7种主要的毒力相关基因特异PCR检测,所有菌株均为sim A+scp I+pdi+sag A+cps D+pgm A+cfi+毒力基因型,表明这2种基因型的海豚链球菌似乎均为毒力较强的菌株。采用K-B法进行了20种抗生素敏感实验分析其耐药谱,结果表明归于基因1型的菌株耐药谱为AZT,基因2型菌株则出现3种相似的耐药谱,分别为SIZ/T/S/PEN/AZT/SPE/CAZ/PB、SIZ/T/S/PEN/AZT/SPE/CAZ/CRO和SIZ/T/S/PEN/AZT/SPE/CAZ/PB/RIF,证实基因型相同的菌株耐药谱型也相似,2种基因型的菌株耐药谱型差异显著,因此基因型和耐药谱型存在相关性。此结果为卵形鲳鲹海豚链球菌病流行病学研究、疫苗研制以及疫病监测提供理论依据。     

Genetic characteristics of Streptococcus dysgalactiae isolated from cage cultured cobia,Rachycentron canadum (L.)

Disease outbreaks occurred during 2007–2013 in Taiwan with 2.5–10% mortality among the cage cultured cobia, Rachycentron canadum (L.), characterized by the presence of polyserositis, pericarditis and peritonitis. The micro‐organisms isolated from internal organs were Gram‐positive cocci. The isolates were confirmed as Streptococcus dysgalactiae by a polymerase chain reaction assay that yielded the expected specific 259 bp amplicon. Additionally, partial sequence of the 16S–23S rDNA intergenic spacer region of the GCS strain isolates from fish was also compared and produced 100% sequence identity with S. dysgalactiae (GenBank accession number AB252398 ). The genetic characterization was then determined by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. Based on PFGE, the Apa I or Sma I digestion patterns of chromosomal DNA of these isolates were grouped into three main clusters. Taiwanese strains were divided into two clusters, and the tet(M) gene was detected in cluster 1 (pulsotypes: A1–A2 and S1–S3), but not in cluster 2 strains (pulsotypes: A3–A4 and S4–S5). Three Japanese strains from amberjack, Seriola dumerili (Risso), were grouped into cluster 3 (pulsotypes: A5–A7 and S6–S8) and displayed no mortality to cobia in the challenge experiment. Conversely, Taiwanese strains from cobia and snubnose pompano, Trachinotus blochii (L.), displayed a mortality rate of 50–87.5% in cobia.     

无乳链球菌感染尼罗罗非鱼的脑膜炎模型

目的：脑膜炎是罗非鱼无乳链球菌病的特征性临床症状,建立罗非鱼无乳链球菌脑膜炎模型,并制定相应的临床症状及组织病理学评分系统,对研究罗非鱼无乳链球菌病的致病机制具有十分重要的意义。方法：将健康罗非鱼43尾,随机分为4组：对照组(n=10)和试验组(n=33)。3组试验组根据不同感染剂量分为：10₆cfu组(n=11)、10₇cfu组(n=11)、10₈cfu组(n=11)。试验组分别将10₆、10₇、10₈CFU的无乳链球菌菌液腹腔注射罗非鱼复制脑膜炎模型。对感染罗非鱼的临床症状、剖检病变、脑组织(端脑、中脑、小脑、延脑)病理学进行判定,并结合细菌学检测,按照拟定的评分系统评价各组脑膜炎的造模效果,确定最佳造模方案。结果：各试验攻毒组罗非鱼感染后2天均出现不同程度死亡,未见明显神经症状。感染3天后鱼体开始出现异常活动的神经症状及突眼、角膜混浊等病理变化。病理组织学观察可见：蛛网膜下腔和脑软膜上有大量炎性渗出和染成蓝紫色微细颗粒的细菌团块,脑膜充血、水肿、疏松、增厚,有大量的中性白细胞等炎性细胞浸润;脑实质基质疏松水肿,呈海绵状;脑组织炎性细胞浸润,胶质细胞增生等软脑膜炎、脑膜脑炎症状。比较各组得分发现,10₇CFU组的无乳链球菌攻毒罗非鱼造模效果最好：临床症状显著而组内罗非鱼差异性最小,组织病理学观察患病罗非鱼病情和缓适中、利于观察研究。结论：使用10₇CFU无乳链球菌腹腔攻毒罗非鱼可在第3天成功构建脑膜炎模型,造模率为100%。     

嗜热链球菌产酸特性及其发酵乳中有机酸组分分析

选取实验室分离自自然发酵乳制品中的5株嗜热链球菌菌株为研究对象,进行单菌株发酵酸乳,在发酵期间和酸乳4℃贮藏504 h阶段,分别测定菌株发酵时间、滴定酸度、pH值、活菌数以及采用反相高效液相色谱法测定有机酸含量变化,研究嗜热链球菌发酵产酸特性及其酸乳贮藏期间后酸化及其有机酸组分的变化特性。结果表明：在42℃发酵期间,5株菌在发酵2h后pH值迅速下降,达到发酵终点时间在5～9h,发酵时间最短的是菌株IMAU10632和IMAU20772。在4℃贮藏504h期间,5株菌的pH值下降幅度在0.5左右,最终pH值稳定在4.2左右,产酸速度均较缓慢,均表现出嗜热链球菌后酸化能力弱的特点,且酸度值均在90oT以下。初步筛选出一株菌株IMAU10632,凝乳时间短、产酸速率快、后酸化能力较弱,在4℃贮藏期间活菌数维持在108CFU/mL以上。     

猪链球菌rGDH蛋白原核表达载体的构建及免疫原性分析

谷氨酸脱氢酶(GDH)在猪链球菌35个血清型中都存在,是一种具有免疫原性的保护性抗原。本试验PCR扩增出GDH基因,酶切定向插入pET-32a中构建表达载体pET-32a-GDH,将其转化E.coli BL21(DE3)表达菌中,培养并诱导表达rGDH蛋白,产物纯化后免疫新西兰白兔,免疫攻毒保护试验检验该蛋白的免疫原性。PCR试验获得约1 300 bp的GDH基因,双酶切pET-32a-GDH表达载体获得5.4和1.3 kb的片段,IPTG诱导表达获得融合蛋白,免疫保护结果达到70%。结果表明,本试验成功构建表达猪链球菌GDH蛋白的原核表达载体pET-32a-GDH,rGDH蛋白以蜂胶为佐剂免疫模型动物后,免疫保护率达到70%,为猪链球菌亚单位疫苗的研制提供了技术支持。