Cold-water vibriosis. The current status of knowledge.

The current review for the first time summarizes the findings of the 30 years of research on cold-water vibriosis (CWV). The diseased caused by Aliivibrio salmonicida (earlier known as Vibrio salmonicida) was for the first time described in 1986 and became one of the most important bacterial diseases in salmon aquaculture. The lack of appropriate vaccine hampered development of Atlantic salmon aquaculture until the late 1980s when a novel vaccine allowed dramatic increase in the Atlantic salmon farming. In December 2007, the genus Vibrio was split into two genera and several bacterial species including V. salmonicida were transferred to genus Aliivibrio. The change of the names create significant difficulties with the designation of the CWV disease agent since its abbreviation A. salmonicida became similar to another well-known salmon pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida (A. salmonicida). The disease was considered as controlled by vaccination, but reappeared at Atlantic salmon farms in 2011, this time affecting vaccinated Atlantic salmon. The current review summarizes the knowledge on pathogenesis, vaccination and treatment of CWV and proposes further directions for studying the disease.

Presence of acyl-homoserine lactones in 57 members of the Vibrionaceae family.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to use a sensitive method to screen and quantify 57 Vibrionaceae strains for the production of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) and map the resulting AHL profiles onto a host phylogeny. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) protocol to measure AHLs in spent media after bacterial growth. First, the presence/absence of AHLs (qualitative analysis) was measured to choose internal standard for subsequent quantitative AHL measurements. We screened 57 strains from three genera (Aliivibrio, Photobacterium and Vibrio) of the same family (i.e. Vibrionaceae). Our results show that about half of the isolates produced multiple AHLs, typically at 25-5000 nmol l(-1) . CONCLUSIONS: This work shows that production of AHL quorum sensing signals is found widespread among Vibrionaceae bacteria and that closely related strains typically produce similar AHL profiles. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The AHL detection protocol presented in this study can be applied to a broad range of bacterial samples and may contribute to a wider mapping of AHL production in bacteria, for example, in clinically relevant strains.