Blood chemistry and acid-base balance in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss with experimentally-induced acute bacterial gill disease

Rainbow trout were experimentally infected with the causative agent of bacterial gill disease (BGD) (Flavobacterium branchiophilum) via bath challenge. All fish were cannulated with dorsal aortic catheters, had nasogastric tubes sutured in place for feeding, and were maintained individually, in plexiglass boxes with a flow-through water system. Fish were either fed, or unfed during the trial. Acute changes in blood gas, serum biochemistry and clinical parameters were monitored. By 24h post-challenge, BGD-infected trout that had been fed had significant hypoxemia, hypercapnia, increased blood ammonia, hypoosmolality, hyponatremia, hypochloremia, and increased cough and respiratory rates when compared to control levels. Unfed BGD-infected trout had similar, but less severe blood gas and clinical changes, and no electrolyte disturbances. The BGD-induced hypoxemia is likely exacerbated by increased oxygen demands brought on by feeding. It is not known what association feeding has with the development of low serum ion levels in BGD-infected trout. This is the first study to report the use of fed fish, as opposed to unfed or starved trout, in obtaining blood chemistry values from indisturbed and cannulated animals.     

Purified deoxynivalenol or feed restriction reduces mortality in rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), with experimental bacterial coldwater disease but biologically relevant concentrations of deoxynivalenol do not impair the growth of Flavobacterium psychrophilum

Diets containing deoxynivalenol (DON) were fed to rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum) for 4 weeks followed by experimental infection (intraperitoneal) with Flavobacterium psychrophilum (4.1 × 10⁶ colony‐forming units [CFU] mL⁻¹). Mortality of rainbow trout fed either 6.4 mg kg⁻¹ DON or trout pair‐fed the control diet was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in comparison with trout fed the control diet to apparent satiation (<0.1 mg kg⁻¹ DON). In a second experiment, trout were fed one of three experimental diets; a control diet, a diet produced with corn naturally contaminated with DON (3.3 mg kg⁻¹ DON) or a diet containing purified DON (3.8 mg kg⁻¹); however, these fish were not experimentally infected. The presence of DON resulted in significant reduction (P < 0.0001) in feed intake as well as weight gain after 4 weeks. Respiratory burst of head‐kidney leucocytes isolated from rainbow trout fed diets containing purified DON (3.8 mg kg⁻¹) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) at 35 day post‐exposure compared with controls. The antimicrobial activity of DON was examined by subjecting F. psychrophilum in vitro to serial dilutions of the chemical. Complete inhibition occurred at a concentration of 75 mg L⁻¹ DON, but no effect was observed below this concentration (0–30 mg L⁻¹).     

Phenotypical and genotypical characterization of Shewanella putrefaciens strains isolated from diseased freshwater fish

Between 2007 and 2012, a variety of disease outbreaks most often characterized by skin disorders were observed among different species of freshwater fish in Poland. In most cases, the clinical signs included focally necrotized gills, necrotic skin lesions or ulcers. Internally, haemorrhages, oedematous kidney and abnormal spleen enlargement were generally noted. The disorders were accompanied by increased mortality. Most of the problems concerned cultured common carp Cyprinus carpio L. and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum). Fish have been examined from a number of these farms, and additionally, the wild and ornamental fish with similar clinical signs of diseases were also tested. Bacteria were isolated consistently from lesions and internal organs. They had characteristic orange-pigmented colonies which grew in pure culture or constituted 55–95% of total bacterial flora. One hundred and eighteen isolates were collected and biochemically identified as Shewanella putrefaciens group, and this was confirmed by sequencing. Challenge tests confirmed the pathogenicity of these bacteria. This is the first report characterizing and describing S. putrefaciens as a pathogen of different species of freshwater fish in Europe.     

Analysis of bacterial community and bacterial nutritional enzyme activity associated with the digestive tract of wild Chilean octopus (Octopus mimus Gould, 1852)

Information on the bacterial community associated with octopus is very scarce, unlike fish and other molluscs. This study revealed the bacterial community associated with digestive tract of wild Chilean octopus Octopus mimus using a culture‐dependent method and 16S rDNA clone library. Moreover, we analysed the bacterial nutritional enzyme activity of culturable bacteria. A culture‐dependent method showed that the composition of the culturable bacterial community was substantially different between female and male octopus. The predominant species in female octopus were Vibrionaceae and Streptococcaceae, whereas only Vibrionaceae was dominated in male octopus. Bacterial nutritional enzyme activities of culturable bacteria from male octopus were much higher than female octopus. The 16S rDNA clone library analysis showed that the bacterial community of male octopus exhibited a higher diversity than that of female octopus. The genus Mycoplasma was the predominant bacteria in the digestive tract of all octopus samples. The results obtained in this study raise the possibility that each octopus has different food consumption due to different bacterial community and nutritional enzyme activity, although Mycoplasma sp. is one of the predominant bacteria in the digestive tract. Moreover, our results are useful for the future of microbiological investigation associated with the octopus and for probiotics in the octopus aquaculture.     

Effects of commonly used disinfectants on bacterial load,hatchability and survival of Bluefin Sea bream (Sparidentex hasta) eggs

The efficacy of four chemical reagents, iodophor, formalin, hydrogen peroxide and bronopol as fish egg surface disinfectants were evaluated in bluefin sea bream (Sparidentex hasta). Fertilized eggs were counted and subjected to a static bath dip treatment in different concentrations of the above chemicals for 4 min before being incubated at 20 ± 0.5°C for 40 h. Treatment efficacy of the different disinfectants was evaluated by assessing the bactericidal activity, egg hatch percentage and survival of larvae up to 3 days post hatch. Results showed that iodophor at medium concentrations (75 and 100 ppm) was the best of all tested disinfectants in bacterial killing ability (12% reduction in the bacterial counts), egg hatching per cent (99.8% and 99.6% respectively) and larval survival up to 3 days post hatch (50.8% and 54.8% respectively). Formalin was the second best disinfectant at levels of 100 and 150 ppm. Hydrogen peroxide gave good results compared with the control while, bronopol showed discouraging results. In conclusion, iodophor appeared to be suitable for bluefin sea bream eggs disinfection with a 4 min exposure to 75–100 ppm when applied 14–16 h after egg fertilization.     

应用高通量测序技术分析拟穴青蟹肠道及其养殖环境菌群结构

采用基于Illumina Hi Seq测序平台的高通量测序技术,对拟穴青蟹(Scylla paramamosain)肠道及其养殖池塘水体、底泥中细菌种类及丰度进行了研究。测序结果显示,3个样品共获得有效序列234575条,可聚类于2812个分类操作单元(OTUs),归属于拟穴青蟹肠道、养殖水体、池塘底泥样品的操作分类单元(OTU)个数分别为453、706和2547,其中有184个OTU均能在3个样品中检测到,在青蟹肠道和养殖水体、青蟹肠道和池塘底泥中分别检测到197和309个共有OTU。物种注释结果显示,拟穴青蟹肠道中优势细菌种类为变形菌门(Proteobacteria)(39.96%)、柔膜菌门(Tenericutes)(23.09%)和厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)(16.58%);养殖水体中优势细菌种类为变形菌门(63.02%)、放线菌门(Actinobacteria)(24.96%)和拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)(8.41%);池塘底泥中优势细菌种类为变形菌门(75.23%)、拟杆菌门(5.72%)和放线菌门(3.83%)。此外,对各样品中丰度最高的前10位OTU分析显示,不同样品中占优势地位的10种细菌在数据库(SILVA)缺乏相关已知序列,并且各样品中的优势细菌种类完全不同。实验结果表明拟穴青蟹肠道与其池塘养殖环境中菌群结构存在着密切的相关性,但肠道菌群同时具有一定的独立性,其优势细菌种类与养殖环境中优势细菌种类无关。本研究旨在为拟穴青蟹健康养殖和微生态调控提供实验依据。     

Development of a quantitative PCR assay for monitoring Streptococcus agalactiae colonization and tissue tropism in experimentally infected tilapia

Streptococcus agalactiae has become one of the most important emerging pathogens in the aquaculture industry and has resulted in large economic losses for tilapia farms in China. In this study, three pairs of specific primers were designed and tested for their specificities and sensitivities in quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reactions (qPCRs) after optimization of the annealing temperature. The primer pair IGS‐s/IGS‐a, which targets the 16S‐23S rRNA intergenic spacer region, was finally chosen, having a detection limit of 8.6 copies of S. agalactiae DNA in a 20 μL reaction mixture. Bacterial tissue tropism was demonstrated by qPCR in Oreochromis niloticus 5 days post‐injection with a virulent S. agalactiae strain. Bacterial loads were detected at the highest level in brain, followed by moderately high levels in kidney, heart, spleen, intestines, and eye. Significantly lower bacterial loads were observed in muscle, gill and liver. In addition, significantly lower bacterial loads were observed in the brain of convalescent O. niloticus 14 days post‐injection with several different S. agalactiae strains. The qPCR for the detection of S. agalactiae developed in this study provides a quantitative tool for investigating bacterial tissue tropism in infected fish, as well as for monitoring bacterial colonization in convalescent fish.     

鱼类抗病育种研究进展

为探究稀有鮈鲫MHC Ⅱβ基因的分子特征及其表达特点,采用PCR扩增技术获得了稀有鮈鲫MHC Ⅱβ cDNA序列810 bp,包括开放阅读框 (ORF)759 bp,编码252个氨基酸。生物信息分析表明,MHC Ⅱβ氨基酸序列存在4个保守的半胱氨酸残基和GXXGXXXGXXXXXXG结构,与其他亲缘鱼类的一致性为51.78%~80.56%,其编码的蛋白质分子包括1个信号肽、1个MHC Ⅱβ (β-1)结构域、1个IGc1 (β-2)结构域和1个跨膜螺旋区域。实时荧光定量PCR (qRT-PCR)结果显示,MHC Ⅱβ在脾脏表达量最高,头肾、鳃、皮肤表达量较高。人工感染鲁氏耶尔森菌后,6 h时在头肾表达呈显著上调,肝脏中在12 h开始出现极显著上调,皮肤中在24 h和48 h表达极显著,鳃中在6~24 h表达极显著,脾脏中则是在6 h出现极显著下调,于96 h接近对照组表达水平。初步研究表明,MHC Ⅱβ在鱼类抵御细菌感染的免疫反应中发挥着重要作用,为进一步揭示稀有鮈鲫MHC家族的功能提供了参考依据。

     

Development and evaluation of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid and simple detection of Flavobacterium psychrophilum

Flavobacterium psychrophilum is the causative agent of bacterial cold-water disease and rainbow trout fry syndrome of salmonids. The pathogen has been reported from all regions in the world involved in salmonid aquaculture, but also from natural fresh-water environments. We established a quantitative loop-mediated isothermal amplification of DNA (LAMP) method to estimate quantities of F. psychrophilum . LAMP primers were designed based on the sequence of the DNA topoisomerase IV subunit B gene, parE , of F. psychrophilum. parE LAMP exhibited a high specificity for the parE gene of F. psychrophilum but not for other related species. parE LAMP detected the gene in a wide range of concentrations from 2.0 × 10¹ to 2.0 × 10⁹ copies/reaction within 70 min and revealed a good correlation between threshold times and gene copy number.     

粘帚霉对几种水生生物有害菌的抑制作用测定

采用对峙培养法测定了粘帚霉16株菌株对嗜水气单胞菌、耶耳森菌、鳗弧菌、褐藻酸降解菌-MA10和褐藻酸降解菌-MB16的作用。试验结果表明,粘帚霉中NCH-3-1、YJS-3-2、GJ-1-1、SS-1-1、SHW-2-1、SHW-1-1、BD-2-2 7株菌株对供试的5种有害菌表现出较强的抑制作用。