Several oomycete species of the genus Saprolegnia are recognized as devastating fish pathogens and are responsible for the loss of millions of fish annually for the aquaculture industry. Until recently, these pathogens were kept in check using malachite green; however, due to its toxicity, this chemical has now been banned from use. Saprolegnia parasitica is recognized as the major pathogen of aquaculture fish species. The industry is struggling to predict and control S. parasitica outbreaks in fish hatcheries and there is a need for new knowledge regarding the population genetic structure of this pathogen. Random amplified microsatellites were used to compare isolates of S. parasitica collected from a variety of hatchery locations during the period of November 2009 - August 2011, in order to determine the level of genetic variability and determine changes in genetic diversity over time. Allele frequencies of scored characters were graphically compared. Population genetic diversity was measured using Nei’s genetic distance, Shannon’s Information Index, number of polymorphic loci and phylogenetic trees. Due to the presence of Saprolegnia parasitica in the facilities tested, it appears to be ubiquitous in aquaculture facilities and treatment and prevention will be an ongoing concern in aquaculture management. Overall, genetic diversity of S. parasitica isolates was determined to be low with at least some sexual recombination occurring over time. There was a diversity of genotypes collected from the same hatchery on a single day, indicating there was not a single genotype present at a given time point. Genetic profiling, such as used here, could provide facility managers with a new approach to develop a series of best practices to control sporadic outbreaks of disease. Use of these genetic markers and close monitoring of S. parasitica genotypes will permit early detection and sanitation protocols. / Graduate / 2015-04-24 / 0476 / 0792 / 0369 / cren06@uvic.ca
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/5363 |
| Date | 05 May 2014 |
| Creators | Naumann, Cayla |
| Contributors | Hintz, William |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, Available to the World Wide Web, CC0 1.0 Universal |
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