Confirmation of Piscirickettsia salmonis as a pathogen in European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax and phylogenetic comparison with salmonid strains.
European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax from the Mediterranean were diagnosed with a severe encephalitis. Rickettsia-like organisms (RLOs) were associated with brain lesions in routine paraffin sections. These were found to share common antigens with the Piscirickettsia salmonis type-strain, LF-89, by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and by immunohistochemistry (IHC). In addition, we compared the DNA sequences of the 16S rDNA and 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) with those published for P. salmonis strains and found that the sea bass piscirickettsia-like organism (SBPLO) was another strain of P. salmonis, closely related to the salmonid pathogens. Furthermore, we showed that the SBPLO possessed at least 2 ITS regions, 1 of which contained tRNA genes.
McCarthy
U
U
Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
Steiropoulos
N A
NA
Thompson
K D
KD
Adams
A
A
Ellis
A E
AE
Ferguson
H W
HW
D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D001483:Base Sequence; D001492:Bass; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017931:DNA Primers; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006115:Greece; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D044147:Piscirickettsiaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D044225:Piscirickettsiaceae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
D017931:DNA Primers; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012343:RNA, Transfer