ABSTRACT
Reported strains of Piscirickettsia salmonis, a pathogen of salmonid fishes, were analyzed by amplifying part of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) operon followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the amplicons. All amplified fragments differing in sequence were distinguished by migration during DGGE. A simpler format, constant denaturant gel electrophoresis (CDGE), allowed the same diagnostic distinctions among strains. Sampling during 1997 and 1998 of salmonids from 5 different sites on and near Chiloé Island in southern Chile displaying piscirickettsiosis revealed only P. salmonis resembling LF-89, the type strain first isolated in 1989. These observations are encouraging for control strategies, which might otherwise be compromised by unpredictable shifts of P. salmonis types in salmon farms. A competitive PCR assay offered insight about the power of PCR for quantification and about specific tissue invasiveness by this intracellular pathogen. This approach revealed that the PCR could amplify approximately 1 to 10 P. salmonis genome equivalents against a background of > 99.9% salmonid DNA. It also raised the possibility that the salmonid brain is an important site for P. salmonis survival, with its bacterial load in 1 individual having been about 100 times the loads observed in liver and kidney. Pathogen detection by competitive PCR in a surface seawater sample from a netpen in use indicated a density of about 3000 to 4000 P. salmonis cells (or their DNA remnants) 1(-1). Such quantitative estimates should aid decisions about disease prevention and management as, for example, choice of netpen sites following fallow periods and certification of ova, which are known conduits of infection.
Subject(s)
Bacterial Infections/veterinary , DNA, Bacterial/chemistry , Fish Diseases/microbiology , Gammaproteobacteria/genetics , Genetic Variation , Salmonidae , Animals , Aquaculture , Bacterial Infections/microbiology , Base Sequence , Chile , DNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification , Molecular Sequence Data , Oncorhynchus kisutch , Oncorhynchus mykiss , Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary , Polymorphism, Genetic , RNA, Bacterial/genetics , RNA, Ribosomal/genetics , Sequence Analysis, DNAABSTRACT
The attributes of the PCR allowed implementation of an assay for specific detection of Piscirickettsia salmonis from a few microliters of fish serum. This opens the way to less invasive modes of sampling for this microbial pathogen in salmonids.
Subject(s)
Fish Diseases/diagnosis , Gram-Negative Bacteria/isolation & purification , Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/veterinary , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Salmonidae/microbiology , Animals , Aquaculture , Bacteremia/diagnosis , Bacteremia/veterinary , DNA, Bacterial/analysis , DNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification , DNA, Ribosomal/analysis , DNA, Ribosomal/isolation & purification , Gram-Negative Bacteria/genetics , Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/diagnosis , Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/microbiology , Muscles/microbiology , Operon/genetics , RNA, Ribosomal, 23S/geneticsABSTRACT
Resistance to complement-mediated lysis in Trypanosoma cruzi is due to the expression of complement-regulatory factors by the virulent developmental forms of this protozoan parasite. An 87- to 93-kDa molecule, which we have termed T-DAF (trypomastigote decay-accelerating factor), is present on the surface of the parasite and inhibits complement activation in a manner functionally similar to the mammalian complement regulatory component, decay-accelerating factor. In this report, we characterized monospecific polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies which were obtained from mice and rabbits immunized with fast protein liquid chromatography-purified T-DAF. These polyclonal antibodies were shown to inhibit T-DAF activity and were capable of inducing lysis of the parasites. Both the polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were used to screen a cDNA expression library prepared from T. cruzi trypomastigote mRNA. From this library, we obtained a partial lambda gt11 cDNA clone which showed genetic and functional similarity to the human C3 convertase inhibitor DAF (A. Nicholson-Weller, J. Burge, D. T. Fearon, P. F. Weller, and K. F. Austen, J. Immunol. 129:184-189, 1982).