Transcriptome Analysis of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Skin in Response to Sea Lice and Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus Co-Infection Under Different Experimental Functional Diets.

Sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are ectoparasitic copepods that cause significant economic loss in marine salmoniculture. In commercial salmon farms, infestation with sea lice can enhance susceptibility to other significant pathogens, such as the highly contagious infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv). In this study, transcriptomic analysis was used to evaluate the impact of four experimental functional feeds (i.e. 0.3% EPA/DHA+high-ω6, 0.3% EPA/DHA+high-ω6+immunostimulant (IS), 1% EPA/DHA+high-ω6, and 1% EPA/DHA+high-ω3) on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) during a single infection with sea lice (L. salmonis) and a co-infection with sea lice and ISAv. The overall objectives were to compare the transcriptomic profiles of skin between lice infection alone with co-infection groups and assess differences in gene expression response among animals with different experimental diets. Atlantic salmon smolts were challenged with L. salmonis following a 28-day feeding trial. Fish were then challenged with ISAv at 18 days post-sea lice infection (dpi), and maintained on individual diets, to establish a co-infection model. Skin tissues sampled at 33 dpi were subjected to RNA-seq analysis. The co-infection's overall survival rates were between 37%-50%, while no mortality was observed in the single infection with lice. With regard to the infection status, 756 and 1303 consensus differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among the four diets were identified in "lice infection vs. pre-infection" and "co-infection vs. pre-infection" groups, respectively, that were shared between the four experimental diets. The co-infection groups (co-infection vs. pre-infection) included up-regulated genes associated with glycolysis, the interferon pathway, complement cascade activity, and heat shock protein family, while the down-regulated genes were related to antigen presentation and processing, T-cell activation, collagen formation, and extracellular matrix. Pathway enrichment analysis conducted between infected groups (lice infection vs. co-infection) resulted in several immune-related significant GO terms and pathways unique to this group, such as "autophagosome", "cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway" and "response to type I interferons". Understanding how experimental functional feeds can impact the host response and the trajectory of co-infections will be an essential step in identifying efficacious intervention strategies that account for the complexities of disease in open cage culture.

Hydrogen peroxide treatment and its impacts on Lepeophtheirus salmonis originating from the Bay of Fundy, Canada.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) is used to treat sea lice infections of farmed salmonids in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and issues with resistance to this treatment, and others are a major threat to the sustainability of the industry. The objectives of this study were to determine how H2 O2 exposure affects survival and antioxidant-related gene expression in salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) collected from the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. The maximum recommended dose of H2 O2 is 1,800 mg/L, while the EC50 values (with 95% CI) for the population tested were 1,486 (457, 2,515) mg/L for males and 2,126 (984, 3,268) mg/L for females. Neither temperature nor pretreatment with emamectin benzoate (EMB) impacted survival after H2 O2 exposure. RT-qPCR was performed on pre-adult sea lice exposed to H2 O2 and showed that four genes classically involved in the response to oxidative stress were unchanged between treated and control groups. Seven genes were found to be significantly upregulated in males and one in females. This is the first report on the efficacy and molecular responses of Atlantic Canada sea lice to H2 O2 treatment.

Copper alters the effect of temperature on mitochondrial bioenergetics in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss.

We investigated the interaction of temperature and copper (Cu) on mitochondrial bioenergetics to gain insight into how temperature fluctuations imposed by natural phenomena or anthropogenic activities would modulate the effects of Cu on cellular energy homeostasis. Mitochondria were isolated from rainbow trout livers and, in the first set of experiments, exposed to Cu (0-2.5 mM) at 5, 11, and 25 °C with measurement of mitochondrial complex II (mtCII)-driven respiration. In the second set of experiments, unenergized mitochondria were incubated for 30 or 60 min with lower concentrations (0-160 µM) of Cu to measure the effects on mtCII enzyme activity. Whereas maximal (state 3) respiration was inhibited by high Cu exposure, low Cu doses stimulated and high Cu doses inhibited resting (state 4) and 4ol (proton leak) respirations. High temperature alone increased mitochondrial respiration in all states. The Q10 values for state 3, state 4, and proton leak respirations suggested active processes with state 4 respiration and proton leak exhibiting greater thermal sensitivity than state 3 respiration. The differential thermal sensitivity of resting relative to phosphorylating mitochondrial state led to uncoupling and limitation of mitochondrial oxidative capacity at both high temperature and doses of Cu. Moreover, exposure to high Cu caused loss of thermal dependence of the mitochondrial bioenergetics culminating in Q10 values well below unity and decreased activation energies (E a) for both maximal and resting respiration rates. In addition, mtCII activity was increased by low and decreased by high doses of Cu indicating that direct effects on this enzyme contribute to Cu-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Taken together, it appears that the substrate oxidation (electron transport chain and tricarboxylic acid cycle) and proton leak subsystems are targets of the deleterious effects of Cu and increased temperature on mitochondrial bioenergetics. However, mitochondrial effects of Cu and temperature may not be easily distinguished because they are generally qualitatively similar.