title: Novel gene isolated from Caligus rogercresseyi: a promising target for vaccine development against sea lice.
abstract: Sea lice (Copepoda, Caligidae) are the most widely distributed marine pathogens in the salmon industry in the last 30 years. Caligus rogercresseyi is the most important species affecting Chile's salmon industry. Vaccines against caligid copepods have the potential to be a cost-effective means of controlling the infestation and avoid many of the disadvantages of medicine treatments. However, research in the development of such vaccines has begun only recently and approaches used thus far have met with little or no success. In the present study, we characterized a novel gene (denoted as my32) from C. rogercresseyi which has the highest identity with the Lepeophtheirus salmonis gene akirin-2. To assess the function of the gene an RNA interference experiment was developed and a reduction in the number of ectoparasites on fish in the my32-dsRNA treated group was observed. The recombinant my32 protein was used in a vaccination-challenge trial to evaluate its ability to protect against sea lice infestations. A significant reduction in the number of parasites per fish was observed at 24 days post-challenge. These results, together with the delay observed in the development of parasites from the vaccinated group suggest that the major effect of immunization was on the second parasite generation. The results of these experiments suggest that the my32 protein may be a promising target for vaccine development to control sea lice infestations in fish.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Havana 10600, Cuba.
authors.forename: Yamila
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Carpio
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Basabe
authors.forename: Jannel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Acosta
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Angélica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lisperger
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zamorano
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rivas
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haussmann
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Figueroa
authors.forename: Verónica N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Osorio
authors.forename: Gladys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Asencio
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mancilla
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borroto
authors.forename: Mario Pablo
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Estrada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D033342:Copepoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D004478:Ectoparasitic Infestations / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods*; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D022223:Vaccines, Subunit; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic