Project description:This study investigates host-specific gene expression of the Pacific salmon lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis oncorhynchii, while parasitizing a resistant host (Coho salmon), two susceptible hosts (Atlantic salmon, Sockeye salmon), and a population with-held hosts (starved), over 48 hrs.
Project description:<p>Animals and their associated microbiota share long evolutionary histories. However, it is not always clear how host genotype and microbiota interact to affect phenotype. We applied a hologenomic approach to explore how host-microbiota interactions shape lifetime growth and parasite infection in farmed Atlantic salmon (<em>Salmo salar</em>). Multi-omics data sets were generated from the guts of 460 salmon, 82% of which were naturally infected with an intestinal cestode. A single <em>Mycoplasma</em> bacterial strain, MAG01, dominated the gut metagenome of large, non-parasitized fish, consistent with previous studies showing high levels of <em>Mycoplasma</em> in the gut microbiota of healthy salmon. While small and/or parasitized salmon also had high abundance of MAG01, we observed increased alpha diversity in these individuals, driven by increased frequency of low-abundance <em>Vibrionaceae</em> and other <em>Mycoplasma</em> species that carried known virulence genes. Colonization by one of these cestode-associated <em>Mycoplasma</em> strains was associated with host individual genomic variation in long non-coding RNAs. Integrating the multi-omic data sets revealed coordinated changes in the salmon gut mRNA transcriptome and metabolome that correlated with shifts in the microbiota of smaller, parasitized fish. Our results suggest that the gut microbiota of small and/or parasitized fish is in a state of dysbiosis that partly depends on the host genotype, highlighting the value of using a hologenomic approach to incorporate the microbiota into the study of host-parasite dynamics.</p>
Project description:We investigate the effect of a functional feed for immunostimulation (peptidoglycan extract from bacterial cell wall with nucleotide formulation) on L. salmonis infection levels on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, and on host and parasite gene expression profiles. Atlantic salmon smolts (~95 g) were fed a control diet, or a low or high dose immunostimulant diet, and then exposed to L. salmonis copepodids in three subsequent exposures. The transcriptome of salmon lice late in the infection attached to either the low dose diet or control diet hosts were compared using a 38K oligonucleotide microarray.
Project description:Infectious diseases among fish present an important economic burden for the aquaculture and fisheries industries around the world. For example, the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) is known to infect farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and results in millions of dollars of lost revenue to salmon farmers. Although improved management and husbandry practices over the last few years have minimized the losses and the number of outbreaks, the risk of new virulent isolates emerging is still a looming threat to the viability and sustainability of this industry. An understanding of the host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level during the course of an infection thus remains of strategic importance for the development of molecular tools and efficient vaccines capable of minimizing losses in the eventual case of a new outbreak. Using a 32 k cDNA microarray platform (cGRASP), we have studied various signaling pathways and immune regulated genes, activated or repressed, in Atlantic salmon head-kidney during the course of an ISAV infection. Gene expressions were measured at 5 different time-points: 6h, 24h, 3d, 7d and 16d post infection to get an overall view of changes as they occurred in time. The earliest time points showed only a few differentially expressed genes in infected fish, relative to controls, although as time progressed, many additional genes involved in key defense pathways were up-regulated including MHC type I, beta-2 microglobulin, TRIM 25 and CC-chemokine 19. During the latest stage of the infection process, many genes related to oxygen transportation were under-expressed, which correlates well with the anemia observed prior to death in Atlantic salmon infected with virulent strains of ISAV.
