0000000000986494
AUTHOR
Heidi Kunttu
Starvation can diversify the population structure and virulence strategies of an environmentally transmitting fish pathogen
Background. Generalist bacterial pathogens, with the ability for environmental survival and growth, often face variable conditions during their outside-host period. Abiotic factors (such as nutrient deprivation) act as selection pressures for bacterial characteristics, but their effect on virulence is not entirely understood. “Sit and wait” hypothesis expects that long outside-host survival selects for increased virulence, but maintaining virulence in the absence of hosts is generally expected to be costly if active investments are needed. We analysed how long term starvation influences bacterial population structure and virulence of an environmentally transmitting fish pathogen Flavobacter…
Characterizing the bacterial fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare, and some factors affecting its pathogenicity
Flavobacterium columnare is a bacterial pathogen of fresh water fish causing lethal columnaris disease worldwide. At Finnish fish farms, columnaris disease has occurred since the early 1980s, and is a serious problem in salmonid farming in Finland. Currently, the only effective treatment is with antibiotics. Factors related to the pathogenicity of F. columnare, transmission of columnaris disease and the immunity of salmonids to columnaris infections are poorly known. F. columnare strains isolated from Finnish fish farms were characterized geno- and phenotypically, virulence and transmission experiments were conducted, and the efficacy of two immunostimulants against columnaris infections in…
Comparison of Delivery Methods in Phage Therapy against Flavobacterium columnare Infections in Rainbow Trout
This dataset consists of three phage therapy experiments to prevent Flavobacterium columnare infections in rainbow trout. Experiments I and II were done in stagnant water, and Experiment III in a flow-through system. See the documentation file attached with the dataset for full description of the methods (also found in the original article).