Presently, most bacterial diseases of eel (Anguilla japonica) are controlled by antibiotics. However, antibiotics not only kill the bacterial pathogens but also kill those bacteria which might be beneficial to eels. In the meantime, application of antibiotics may result in spreading and accumulation of the resistance genes which may in turn lower the efficacy the antibiotics in the future and may threat public health. The recent trend to such problems is to screen non-pathogenic bacteria which are competitive to the pathogenic bacteria in the same environments. The eel pathogen, Edwardsiella tarda, was chosen as the target in this study. Bacterial strains were isolated from different eel ponds and tested for the ability to inhibit the growth of E. tarda. Of 2,412 strains tested, eight of them showed the inhibition capability. The molecular weights of the bioactive ingredients are all smaller than 12,000 daltons indicating they are not protein in nature. One of the strains is Bacillus cereus, four of the strains are Bacillus sphaericus, two of the strains are Bacillus laterosporus, and one of the strains of identified as Pseudomonas areuginosa competed extremely well with E. tarda. These antagonistic bacteria may have the potential of becoming as bio-control agents.Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) is an important agricultural product in Taiwan. The over all production peaked in 1988, since then the outbreak of viral infection has caused the shrimp aquaculture a heavy damage. The current production is merely 1/10 of the peak. Many solutions were proposed to solve the problem, such as: increase the immunity of the shrimp, study pumping of the underground water has caused serious land subsidence in the coastal areas. Therefore, conservation of water is the trend of current aquaculture. In this study, culturable bacteria were isolated from a closed tiger shrimp pond. The taxonomy of the bacteria was based on 16S rDNA sequence phylogeny. Roughly 8 groups (genera) of bacteria were identified, including: Vibrio, Pseudoalteromonas, Porphyrobacter, Flavobacterium, Rhodthermus and three uncertain genera.

Life histories unfold within the ecological context of an organism's environment, and thus are intimately linked to organismal fitness. The evolution of alternate life history strategies, either within or between taxa, can profoundly affect ontogeny, ecology, and population dynamics. Many cnidarians (sea anemones, corals, jellyfish, etc.) exhibit complex life histories involving sexual reproduction and multiple modes of asexual reproduction. Sea anemones of the family Edwardsiidae exemplify this complexity, and are therefore an attractive system for studying the developmental and ecological ramifications of life history evolution. I used intra- and interspecific comparisons of two Edwardsiid anemones, Edwardsiella lineata, and Nematostella vectensis to investigate alternative life histories using a multifaceted approach that included field-based ecological surveys, functional genetics, transcriptomics, and phylogenetics. Both anemones are capable of sexual and asexual reproduction. N. vectensis produces a rapidly maturing direct developing larva. By contrast, E. lineata has evolved a new larval stage that parasitizes the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. Through fieldwork surveys and laboratory culture, I documented several life history traits, such as a previously un-characterized, pre-parasitic larval stage, and the developmental dynamics of early-stage parasitic infections, that augmented gaps in our knowledge of E. lineata's life history. To better understand how and when E. lineata evolved its novel, parasitic life history, I worked with collaborators in the Finnerty lab to sequence, assemble and annotate the transcriptome. Through a multigene molecular clock approach, enabled by the E. lineata transcriptome assembly, I estimated the divergence date for these two anemones between 215-364 million years ago, thereby establishing an upper bound for the innovation of E. lineata's derived, parasitic life history. Testing a hypothesis that Wnt signaling, which patterns the oral-aboral (OA) axis during embryogenesis, also patterns the OA axis during regeneration, I demonstrated that canonical Wnt signaling is sufficient for oral tissue fate across alternate life histories (embryogenesis and regeneration) of N. vectensis. Taken together, these dissertation research activities constitute an integrative approach to investigating the evolution of life histories, and are a step towards establishing E. lineata and N. vectensis as models for studying the evolutionary developmental mechanisms of parasitism and regeneration.

Edwardsiella ictaluri is the causative agent of enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC), which is one of the most important diseases impacting the US catfish industry. Though this disease has been very common, progress has been slow to find an economical and practical treatment method. Our long-term goal is to determine the mechanisms of E. ictaluri virulence in ESC. The overall objective of this study was to identify E. ictaluri genes required for host encounter and serum resistance and to determine their roles in pathogenesis. The central hypothesis is that E. ictaluri must differentially regulate its genes to invade fish and evade host defenses, thus, mutation of these differentially expressed genes (DEG) should cause attenuation of E. ictaluri virulence. To test this hypothesis, we first determined the global gene expression patterns of the wild type (wt) E. ictaluri 93-146 and EiAKMut02 mutant during catfish encounter and serum exposure using microarray analysis. Results indicated that in E. ictaluri wt, 377 and 16 DEGs were identified during host encounter and serum exposure, respectively. In EiAKMut02, 82 and 296 DEGs were identified during host encounter and serum experiment. Through functional analysis using Blast2GO, PSORTb, Host Pathogen Interaction Database (HPIDB), and Microbe Virulence Database (MVirDB), 38 DEGs in 9 KEGG pathways have been identified as potential virulence factors. The KEGG pathways represented were 1) bacterial secretion system including T3SS and T6SS, 2) ABC transporters including cystine transport system, iron complex transport system, d-methionine transport system, arginine transport system, thiamine transport system, and molybdate transport system, 3) protein export, 4) flagellar assembly, 5) two-component system, 6) bacterial chemotaxis, 7) ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, 8) phosphotransferase system, and 9) metabolic pathways. In order to understand their role in the E. ictaluri virulence, selected DEGs were inrame deleted by allelic exchange, and their virulence and efficacy were characterized in channel catfish fingerlings. Our results showed that the virulence of E. ictaluri ssaV and yscR mutants was completely attenuated while their efficacies were moderate in catfish fingerlings. These results support that the T3SS and T6SS, ABC transporters, protein export, and flagella seem to be important in E. ictaluri virulence.

Catfish, the "king" of the U.S. aquaculture, is threatened by a severe, systemic bacterial disease known as enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC). This disease causes high mortality and massive economic losses in cultured channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in the United States. E. ictaluri penetrates catfish intestinal epithelia quickly and establishes a systemic infection rapidly. However, our knowledge on catfish intestine and E. ictaluri interaction is very limited. In Particular, catfish intestinal immune responses and virulence genes needed by E. ictaluri to evade host defenses are not well understood. Hence, our long-term goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms of E. ictaluri-host interactions. The overall objectives of this study were to understand catfish immune responses to E. ictaluri infection and determine essential genes of E. ictaluri during the intestinal invasion. To accomplish the overall objectives of this research, intestinal ligated loops were constructed surgically in live catfish and loops were injected with wild-type E. ictaluri and two live attenuated E. ictaluri vaccine strains developed recently by our research group. We first determined catfish intestinal immune responses against E. ictaluri wild-type and live attenuated vaccine strains. Then, we analyzed the global gene expression patterns of wild-type E. ictaluri and vaccine strains during catfish intestinal invasion using high throughput RNA-Seq technology. Results showed a moderate level of neutrophil and B cell infiltration correlated with significantly lower expression of TNF-α, CD4-1, and CD8-α in the vaccine injected intestinal tissue compared to that of wild-type injected intestinal tissue. Further, RNA-Seq data analysis showed the prominent expression of genes related to bacterial secretion systems, ATP production processes, and multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pumps in wild-type E. ictaluri. In contrast, the prominently expressed genes in vaccine strains were related to the phosphotransferase system and sugar metabolism processes. All these data suggest that our live attenuated vaccines are capable of triggering effective immune responses in catfish without causing damage to the host.

In Southeast Asia, the family Pangasiidae is important for commercial fisheries and aquaculture. Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (striped catfish) is the most economically important species farmed in Vietnam, with a total export value of 1.7 billion USD in 2012. Intensive aquaculture can lead to problems with major outbreaks of disease and Edwardsiella ictaluri and Aeromonas hydrophila represent two important bacterial pathogens in P. hypophthalmus aquaculture. Immunostimulants have proven to be a very useful food additive for the aquaculture industry, since they can be easily fed to fish to enhance their immune response at times of stress and to improve resistance to disease. The immune system of pangasius catfish has not been fully described, despite the recent growth in aquaculture for this species, and little is known about the effects of immunostimulants on disease resistance. Understanding the immune response is very important in order to evaluate the health status of the fish and assist in control of disease (including prevention) so that production levels by the aquaculture industry can be sustained. The aims of this thesis were to develop and standardise methods to elucidate and measure immune responses in P. hypophthalmus and then to use these with relevant disease models (A. hydrophila and E. ictaluri) and immunomodulators (β-glucans from different sources and at different doses) to determine if bacterial diseases can be controlled, and which functional immune responses and immune genes could be correlated with disease resistance. As a variety of different species from family Pangasiidae are economically important for aquaculture, initial work focused on the characterisation of the immunoglobulin IgM molecule in these species, and anti-P. hypophthalmus IgM mAbs were tested to determine if they cross-reacted between different Pangasiidae species (Chapter 2). Although affinity purification of IgM from the different fish species resulted in a purer preparation ammonium sulphate precipitation (14% w/w), the latter proved faster and easier to perform. The heavy (H) and light (L) chains of IgM from P. hypophthalmus were estimated to be 70-72 kDa and 25-26 kDa, respectively, using SDS-PAGE (12.5%). The L chains of IgM in the other Asian fish species examined were similar in molecular weight to P. hypophthalmus, while the H chains varied (P. gigas and P. larnaudii 76kDa, P. sanitwongsei 69kDa, H. filamentus 73kDa, P. borcoti and H. wyckioides 75kDa, C. bactracus 74kDa, C. macrocephalus 73kDa and C. carpio 70kDa), as did the native IgM molecules. Sedimentation velocity ultracentrifugation was used to determine the molecular weight of the whole IgM molecule from P. hypophthalmus as an alternative to the more commonly used native gels that are run under non-denaturing conditions, although this technique proved more complex. Anti–P. hypophthalmus IgM monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) cross reacted with all of the Pangasiidae species and were successfully applied in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using mAb 23 to measure serum antibody response of P. hypoophthalmus following experimental infection with A. hydrophila by interperitoneal (I.P.) injection in Chapter 3 and E. ictaluri by immersion in Chapter 4. As P. hypophthalmus is a relatively new aquaculture species, there are few reports evaluating its immune response to pathogens. Thus, functional assays were standardised to evaluate both innate and adaptive immune responses of this species and then these assays used to compare immune response following stimulation with live and killed A. hydrophila. (Chapter3). Four treatment groups of 40 fish per group (53.2 ± 14.8g.) consisting of an untreated control group, a group injected I.P. with adjuvant (Montanide ISA 760 VG) only, a group injected with heat-killed A. hydrophila (1 x109 cfu ml-1 mixed with adjuvant), and a group injected with a subclinical dose of live A. hydrophila 2.7 x105 cfu ml-1 were used in the study. Samples were collected 0, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days post injection (d.p.i.) to assess the immune response of fish. The results indicated that challenge with live or/and dead bacteria stimulated the immune response in P. hypophthalmus significantly above control groups with respect to specific antibody titre, lysozyme activity, phagocytosis and plasma peroxidase at 7 or/and 14 d.p.i. Moreover, on 21 d.p.i. total IgM, specific antibody titre and lysozyme activity from both live and dead A. hydrophila challenge groups were significantly different to the control groups. Differential immune responses between live and dead bacterial challenges were also observed as only live A. hydrophila significantly stimulated WBC counts and plasma peroxidase at 3 d.p.i. with the greatest increase in WBC counts noted at 21 d.p.i. and in phagocytosis at 14 d.p.i. By 21 d.p.i. only the macrophages from fish challenged with dead A. hydrophila showed significantly stimulated respiratory burst activity. Immunostimulants are food additives used by the aquaculture industry to enhance the immune response, and β-glucan is now commonly used for this purpose in aquaculture. In Chapter 4 the effect of the prebiotic β-glucan on the immune response and disease resistance of P. hypophthalmus was evaluated. The fish (60.3 ± 11.7 g.) were fed with a basal diet (control) or diets supplemented with fungal derived β-glucan at concentrations of 0.05 %, 0.1 %, or 0.2 % g/kg for four weeks. Fish fed 0.1 % commercial yeast derived β-glucan were also included as a positive control group. Samples were collected from fish on Days 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28. The results showed that fish fed with the highest two levels of fungal derived β-glucan had enhanced immune responses compared to the control group, with respiratory burst activity on all days examined and lysozyme activity on 7 days post feeding (d.p.f.) being significantly elevated (P<0.05) in the group fed with 0.2 % fungal derived β-glucan, while plasma anti-protease activity on 21 d.p.f., natural antibody titre on 3 d.p.f. and complement activity 7 d.p.f. and 14 d.p.i. were significantly enhanced (P<0.05) in the group fed 0.1 % fungal derived β-glucan. The lowest dose of fungal derived β-glucan (0.05 %) appeared insufficient to effectively stimulate the fish’s immune response. WBC count, respiratory burst, lysozyme activity and complement were useful as an early indication of immunostimulation (1 to 7 days). Four weeks after feeding with the different diets, the fish were experimentally infected with E. ictaluri by immersion using 8 x104 cfu ml-1 for 1 h and mortalities were monitored for 14 days. There was a great deal of variation in the level of mortalities within the four replicate tanks for each dietary group. Although the in vivo challenge results showed no statistical differences between the groups fed on the different diets, the highest mortalities were observed in group fed with the control diet and the lowest mortalities were observed in the groups fed with commercial yeast derived β-glucan and 0.2 % fungal derived β glucan. Immune gene expression following stimulation with β-glucan and challenge with E. ictaluri was investigated in Chapter 5.

Orientador: Helio Langoni / Resumo: EBERHARDT, B.G. Avaliação de micro-organismos zoonóticos em filés de tilápia do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus). Botucatu, 2018. 71p. Tese (Doutorado) – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Campus de Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista. RESUMO Cinquenta filés de tilápia do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) obtidos em mercado de peixes no município de Ourinhos, Estado de São Paulo, foram analisados quanto à prevalência para Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Mycobacterium spp. e Cianobactérias. Amostras de músculo foram avaliadas por PCR para Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda e Mycobacterium spp., enquanto que as amostras para cianobactérias foram analisadas por PCR em Tempo Real (qPCR). Os resultados obtidos demonstraram ausência de Aeromonas hydrophila e Edwardsiella tarda nas amostras de filés. A prevalência para Mycobacterium spp. foi de 100% (50/50). Realização posterior de sequenciamento revelou Mycobacterium gordonae. Esta bactéria é considerada um colonizador comum, normalmente não patogênico, porém, há relatos de literatura que demonstram risco de infecção em indivíduos imunossuprimidos e até mesmo imunocompetentes. A taxa de prevalência para cianobactérias foi de 48% (24/50). As cianobactérias (algas azuis) produzem grande quantidade de metabólitos bioativos ou mesmo tóxicos, incluindo toxinas associadas a problemas ambientais e de saúde pública. Considerando a natureza e o papel das cianobactérias como patógenos emergentes, a elevada prevalência... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

abstract: Teleosts have the most primitive adaptive immune system. However, in terms of functionality the teleost immune system is similar to birds and mammals. On the other hand, enteric bacterial pathogens of mammals and birds present conserved regulatory mechanisms that control virulence factors. In this context, deletion of conserved genes that control virulence factors have been successfully used as measure to construct live attenuated bacterial vaccines for mammals and birds. Here, I hypothesize that evolutionary conserved genes, which control virulence factors or are essential for bacterial physiology in Enterobacteriaceae, could be used as universal tools to design live attenuated recombinant bacterial vaccines from fish to mammals. The evolutionary conserved genes that control virulence factors, crp and fur, and the essential gene for the synthesis of the cell wall, asd, were studied in Edwardsiella ictaluri to develop a live recombinant vaccine for fish host. The genus Edwardsiella is one of the most ancient represent of the Enterobacteriaceae family. E. ictaluri, a host restricted pathogen of catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), is the causative agent of the enteric septicemia and one of the most important pathogens of this fish aquaculture. Although, crp and fur control different virulence factors in Edwardsiella, in comparison to other enterics, individual deletion of these genes triggered protective immune response at the systemic and mucosal level of the fish. Deletion of asdA gene allowed the creation of a balanced-lethal system to syntheses heterologous antigens. I concluded that crp, fur and asd could be universally used to develop live attenuate recombinant Enterobacteriaceae base vaccines for different hosts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Microbiology 2012

Submitted by Bruno Giorno Eberhardt (bruno.giorno@agricultura.gov.br) on 2018-04-21T01:40:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE DOUTORADO - BRUNO GIORNO EBERHARDT.pdf: 3876871 bytes, checksum: 3c2c7eac21349ce401f54a1cb03fae4f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Lucia Martins Frederico null (mlucia@fca.unesp.br) on 2018-04-23T12:55:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 eberhardt_bg_dr_botfca.pdf: 2911225 bytes, checksum: 9f9ad5ea743405838741796482e9ab66 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-23T12:55:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 eberhardt_bg_dr_botfca.pdf: 2911225 bytes, checksum: 9f9ad5ea743405838741796482e9ab66 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-01 / EBERHARDT, B.G. Avaliação de micro-organismos zoonóticos em filés de tilápia do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus). Botucatu, 2018. 71p. Tese (Doutorado) – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Campus de Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista. RESUMO Cinquenta filés de tilápia do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) obtidos em mercado de peixes no município de Ourinhos, Estado de São Paulo, foram analisados quanto à prevalência para Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Mycobacterium spp. e Cianobactérias. Amostras de músculo foram avaliadas por PCR para Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda e Mycobacterium spp., enquanto que as amostras para cianobactérias foram analisadas por PCR em Tempo Real (qPCR). Os resultados obtidos demonstraram ausência de Aeromonas hydrophila e Edwardsiella tarda nas amostras de filés. A prevalência para Mycobacterium spp. foi de 100% (50/50). Realização posterior de sequenciamento revelou Mycobacterium gordonae. Esta bactéria é considerada um colonizador comum, normalmente não patogênico, porém, há relatos de literatura que demonstram risco de infecção em indivíduos imunossuprimidos e até mesmo imunocompetentes. A taxa de prevalência para cianobactérias foi de 48% (24/50). As cianobactérias (algas azuis) produzem grande quantidade de metabólitos bioativos ou mesmo tóxicos, incluindo toxinas associadas a problemas ambientais e de saúde pública. Considerando a natureza e o papel das cianobactérias como patógenos emergentes, a elevada prevalência deste organismo em um alimento popular como o filé de tilápia do Nilo desperta preocupação, uma vez que os métodos tradicionais de inspeção são incapazes de detectar o patógeno, pelo fato de não provocar alterações macroscópicas nos produtos, bem como pelo potencial de toxicidade para humanos. Entretanto, estudos adicionais são necessários a fim de entender se estes compostos tóxicos estão presentes nos peixes e, caso estejam, se podem sofrer bioacumulação em níveis suficientes para afetar a saúde humana. Palavras-chave: Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Mycobacterium spp, Mycobacterium gordonae, cianobactéria, cianotoxina, tilápia do Nilo, Oreochromis niloticus, diagnóstico. / Fifty fillets of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from a Ourinhos fish market, Sao Paulo State (Southeast Brazil) were analyzed for the prevalence of Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Mycobacterium spp. and cyanobacteria. Muscle samples were evaluated by PCR for Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda and Mycobacterium spp. Samples for cyanobacteria were analyzed by real time PCR. Both Aeromonas hydrophila and Edwardsiella tarda were not present in fish samples. The prevalence of Mycobacterium spp. was 100% (50/50). Sequencing revealed Mycobacterium gordonae. This agent is usually a ubiquitous and commonly nonpathogenic colonizing organism, although many research publications have reported disease in immunocompromised or even in immunocompetent patients. Prevalence for cyanobacteria was 48% (24/50). Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) produce a diversity of toxic or otherwise bioactive metabolites, including a number of toxins that have been associated with human and environmental health concerns. Considering the nature and role of cyanobacteria as a pathogen of emerging importance, the high prevalence of this organism in a popular food item such as Nile tilapia raises concern, since no macroscopic alterations can be detected through regular food inspection methods. However, further studies are necessary in order to understand whether these compounds are present in fish and, if so, if they could accumulate sufficiently to affect human health.

A Catfish Management Database (CMD) was developed to analyze data from large commercial catfish farms. The CMD was developed so that data collected by the farm could be used for management of the farm and for identifying some of the risk factors associated with important bacteria diseases. This database was designed to 1) to incorporate production data already being recorded for generating reports for use at weekly managerial meetings focused on feeding rates, feed conversion ratios, mortalities and harvesting events 2) be easily used by a catfish farmer to collect management data in order to analyze production efficiency through a series of farmer defined management reports and 3) provide the farm with easy access to management reports. Additional customized reports can be generated as requested by the farm management. The next objective of this research was to determine pond level risk factors associated with columnaris disease and Enteric Septicemia of Catfish related mortalities. The data from the CMD was used to produce two publications detailing the analysis of the data and production of a univariate and multivariate models of pond level risk factors associated with both diseases. These studies showed some commonly recorded production variables were associated with either columnaris and/or ESC associated mortalities and if monitored could help identify “at risk” ponds prior to disease outbreaks. A study was then conducted to examine the cost associated with mortality on Mississippi commercial catfish farms. The mortalities examined included ponds that had mortalities from columnaris disease, ESC and then any ponds that had mortalities from either. The cost of each disease was determined along with other factors such as pond age, feed conversion ratio and feed cost that influence the profitability of a commercial catfish farm.

The U.S. aquaculture industry has become well established in the last three decades, and channel catfish aquaculture is the most significant component of this industry. Virulent Aeromonas hydrophila has been a serious disease problem since 2009 in the U.S. catfish aquaculture, and Aeromonas veronii and Edwardsiella piscicida are emerging pathogens of catfish. Therefore, this study aims to address fundamental questions on virulence mechanisms of these three fish pathogens, which I expect to support the development of control measures for preventing these diseases. In this study, E. piscicida and virulent Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh) genomes were sequenced, and comparative analyses were conducted using the genome sequences. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculations showed that E. piscicida strains share high sequence identity, yet they are from diverse host species and geographic regions. vAh isolates share very high sequence identity, while the other A. hydrophila genomes are more distantly related to this clonal group. We applied several comparative genomics approaches to evaluate E. piscicida genomes and E. ictaluri genomes, providing valuable information about unique and shared features of these two important pathogens in the Edwardsiella genus. Comprehensive secretion system analysis of 55 A. hydrophila genomes and deletion of tssD and tssI core elements of T6SS from vAh isolate ML09-119 has provided new knowledge. We sequenced the genome of virulent Aeromonas veronii strain ML09-123 from catfish indicated that it was highly similar to an A. veronii strain from China. Evaluation of all 41 A. veronii genomes available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides a base platform to investigate in detail the molecular mechanism of A. veronii biology and virulence. Lastly, we constructed deletion mutants vAhΔsia, vAhΔent, vAhΔcol, vAhΔhfq1, vAhΔhfq2, and vAhΔhfq1Δhfq2 to determine roles of A. hydrophila secreted proteins and regulatory proteins on virulence in catfish. Results showed that sialidase (vAhΔsia) and enterotoxin (vAhΔent) mutants were significantly attenuated.