title: Confirmation of Piscirickettsia salmonis as a pathogen in European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax and phylogenetic comparison with salmonid strains.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Steiropoulos
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Ferguson
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012343:RNA, Transfer