Inter-Research > DAO > v125 > n3 > p189-197  
DAO
Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

via Mailchimp

DAO 125:189-197 (2017)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03140

Vibrio tapetis from wrasse used for ectoparasite bio-control in salmon farming: phylogenetic analysis and serotyping

Snorre Gulla1,2,*, Anita Rønneseth3, Henning Sørum4, Øyvind Vågnes2, Sabela Balboa5, Jesús L. Romalde5, Duncan J. Colquhoun1,3

1Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Pb 750 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Norway
2Vaxxinova Norway AS, Kong Christian Fredriks plass 3, 5006 Bergen, Norway
3Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Pb 7800, 5020 Bergen, Norway
4Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Pb 8146, Dep 0033 Oslo, Norway
5Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, CIBUS-Faculty of Biology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: So-called ‘cleaner fish’, including various wrasse (Labridae) species, have become increasingly popular in Norwegian salmon farming in recent years for biocontrol of the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis. Cleaner fish mortalities in salmon farms are, however, often high. Various bacterial agents are frequently associated with episodes of increased cleaner fish mortality, and Vibrio tapetis is regularly cultured from diseased wrasse. In the present study, we investigated the genetic relationships among 54 V. tapetis isolates (34 from wrasse species) by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA; rpoD, ftsZ, pyrH, rpoA and atpA). In the resulting phylogenetic tree, all wrasse isolates belonged to sub-clusters within V. tapetis subsp. tapetis. Slide agglutination testing further confirmed the complete dominance amongst these isolates of 4 O-antigen serotypes, designated here as V. tapetis subsp. tapetis serotypes O1, O3, O4 and O5, respectively. A pilot challenge trial using serotypes O3, O4 and O5 did not indicate high pathogenicity towards ballan wrasse Labrus bergylta, thus questioning the role of V. tapetis as a primary pathogen of this fish species.


KEY WORDS: Vibrio tapetis · Multilocus sequence analysis · Serotyping · Infection trial · Cleaner fish · Wrasse · Salmon louse · Biocontrol


Full text in pdf format
Supplementary material
Cite this article as: Gulla S, Rønneseth A, Sørum H, Vågnes Ø, Balboa S, Romalde JL, Colquhoun DJ (2017) Vibrio tapetis from wrasse used for ectoparasite bio-control in salmon farming: phylogenetic analysis and serotyping. Dis Aquat Org 125:189-197. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03140

Export citation
Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn

 Previous article Next article