Characterization of "Pasteurella" piscicida isolated from white perch and cultivated yellowtail

The Evolution of a Specialized, Highly Virulent Fish Pathogen through Gene Loss and Acquisition of Host-Specific Survival Mechanisms

Photobacterium damselae comprises two subspecies, P. damselae subsp. damselae and P. damselae subsp. piscicida, that contrast remarkably despite their taxonomic relationship. The former is opportunistic and free-living but can cause disease in compromised individuals from a broad diversity of taxa, while the latter is a highly specialized, primary fish pathogen. Here, we employ new closed curated genome assemblies from Australia to estimate the global phylogenetic structure of the species P. damselae. We identify genes responsible for the shift from an opportunist to a host-adapted fish pathogen, potentially via an arthropod vector as fish-to-fish transmission was not achieved in repeated cohabitation challenges despite high virulence for Seriola lalandi. Acquisition of ShdA adhesin and of thiol peroxidase may have allowed the environmental, generalist ancestor to colonize zooplankton and to occasionally enter in fish host sentinel cells. As dependence on the host has increased, P. damselae has lost nonessential genes, such as those related to nitrite and sulfite reduction, urea degradation, a type 6 secretion system (T6SS) and several toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems. Similar to the evolution of Yersinia pestis, the loss of urease may be the crucial event that allowed the pathogen to stably colonize zooplankton vectors. Acquisition of host-specific genes, such as those required to form a sialic acid capsule, was likely necessary for the emergent P. damselae subsp. piscicida to become a highly specialized, facultative intracellular fish pathogen. Processes that have shaped P. damselae subsp. piscicida from subsp. damselae are similar to those underlying evolution of Yersinia pestis from Y. pseudotuberculosis.

IMPORTANCEPhotobacterium damselae subsp. damselae is a ubiquitous marine bacterium and opportunistic pathogen of compromised hosts of diverse taxa. In contrast, its sister subspecies P. damselae subsp. piscicida (Pdp) is highly virulent in fish. Pdp has evolved from a single subclade of Pdd through gene loss and acquisition. We show that fish-to-fish transmission does not occur in repeated infection models in the primary host, Seriola lalandi, and present genomic evidence for vector-borne transmission, potentially via zooplankton. The broad genomic changes from generalist Pdd to specialist Pdp parallel those of the environmental opportunist Yersinia pseudotuberculosis to vector-borne plague bacterium Y. pestis and demonstrate that evolutionary processes in bacterial pathogens are universal between the terrestrial and marine biosphere.

Capsular polysaccharide expressed by Pasteurella piscicida grown in vitro

Pasteurella piscicida grown in a glucose-rich medium produces a capsule that can be see under light and electron microscopy. The capsular polysaccharide was purified and characterized by chemical and HPLC analysis. The polymer has the composition glucose/mannose/N-acetylgalactosamine/galacturonic acid/acetic acid in the molar ratios of approximately 2.5:1.3:0.5:0.4:2.5. The polysaccharide was immunogenic in rabbits and did not cross-react with antibodies against the O-antigen lipopolysaccharide.

Phenotypic, antigenic, and molecular characterization of Pasteurella piscicida strains isolated from fish

We compared Pasteurella piscicida strains isolated from different fish species in several European countries with strains isolated in Japan and the United States. The taxonomic analysis revealed that, regardless of the geographic origin and source of isolation, all the strains exhibited the same biochemical and physiological characteristics. Serological assays with different rabbit antisera demonstrated a high level of antigenic similarity among strains, with cross-agglutination titers of 20,480 to 40,960. This serological homogeneity was supported by the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and membrane protein profiles. All the P. piscicida strains had the same electrophoretic LPS pattern, showing O side chains with a ladder-like structure, and shared at least four major outer membrane proteins, of 20, 30, 42, and 53 kDa. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis with LPS and protein indicated that all the P. piscicida strains are immunologically related. In addition, the chromosomal DNA fingerprint patterns obtained for the European strains with the enzymes EcoRI and BamHI were practically identical to those of the Japanese and U.S. strains. Although some differences were found in the plasmid profiles of P. piscicida, a large number of strains possessed in common plasmid bands of 20 and 7 MDa. In addition, a plasmid of 50 MDa was present in the majority of the European strains. Restriction endonuclease analysis demonstrated the genetic homology of the plasmid bands shared by most of the European strains. All the P. piscicida strains had the same drug resistance patterns, indicating that a correlation between plasmid carriage and resistance to a specific antimicrobial agent cannot be established. The high levels of phenotypic, serological, and genetic homogeneity found among the P. piscicida strains should facilitate the development of DNA probes with diagnostic purposes as well as the design of effective vaccines.

Isolation and characterization of some previously unreported taxa from poultry with phenotypical characters related to Actinobacillus-an Pasteurella species

Cultural, morphologic, and biochemical characteristics of previously unreported taxa isolated from poultry and tentatively assigned to genus Actinobacillus Brumpt 1910 were compared to those of Actinobacillus lignieresii, A equuli, A. seminis, A. suis, avian haemolytic Actinobacillus sp., A.salpingitidis, avian Pasteurella haemolytica-like strains, P haemolytica biovar T, P, ureae. P. multocida, P. pneumotropica, P. gallinarum and P. anatipestifer. Evidence as obtained to indicate that taxon 1--3 was closely related to genus Actinobacillus Brumpt 1910, but sufficiently different from established species within that genus to constitute new distinct species. Taxon 4 had the cultural and biochemical characters of strains previously described by Clark and Godfrey. Strains designated P haemolytica-like could not be separated from A. salpingitidis on the basis of phenotypical characters. The final taxonomical position of taxon 1-4 in addition to strains designated avian haemolytic Actinobacillus sp. and P. haemolytica-like, however, has to await further taxonomical investigations including determination of mol % G + C in DNA and DNA hybridization, for which reason species names have been omitted.