Vibrio alginolyticus influences quorum sensing-controlled phenotypes of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease-causing Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Insights into molecular aspects of pathogenesis and disease management in acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND): An updated review

Shrimp aquaculture is a rapidly growing sector that makes a significant economic contribution. However, the aquaculture industry is confronted with significant challenges, and infectious diseases, notably Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND), have emerged as severe threat. AHPND is caused by pathogens carrying the pVA-1 plasmid, which expresses the PirAB toxin, and it has wreaked havoc in shrimp aquaculture, imposing substantial economic burdens. To address this issue, it is crucial to delve into shrimp's immune responses. Therefore, this comprehensive review offers an in-depth examination of AHPND outbreaks, encompassing various facets such as environmental factors, host susceptibility, and the mechanisms employed by the pathogens. Traditional approaches to combat AHPND, primarily relying on chemicals and antibiotics, have raised concerns related to antibiotic resistance and have demonstrated limited success in disease control. Hence this review spotlights recent advancements in molecular diagnostics, therapeutic agents, and research related to shrimp immunity. Understanding these developments is crucial in the ongoing battle against AHPND. In conclusion, this review underscores the pressing need to comprehend the underlying mechanisms of AHPND pathogenesis and emphasizes the importance of developing comprehensive and effective solutions to combat this devastating disease, which continues to threaten the sustainability of shrimp farming.

Shrimp microbiome and immune development in the early life stages

With its contribution to nutrition, development, and disease resistance, gut microbiome has been recognized as a crucial component of the animal's health and well-being. Microbiome in the gastrointestinal tract constantly interacts with the host animal's immune systems as part of the normal function of the intestines. Interactions between the microbiome and the immune system are complex and dynamic, with the microbiome shaping immune development and function. In contrast, the immune system modulates the composition and activity of the microbiome. In shrimp, as with all other aquatic animals, the interaction between the microbiome and the animals occurs at the early developmental stages. This early interaction is likely essential to the development of immune responses of the animal as well as many key physiological developments that further contribute to the health of shrimp. This review provides background knowledge on the early developmental stage of shrimp and its microbiome, examines the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system in the early life stage of shrimp, and discusses potential pitfalls and challenges associated with microbiome research. Understanding the interaction between the microbiome and shrimp immune system at this crucial developmental stage could have the potential to aid in the establishment of a healthy microbiome, improve shrimp survival, and provide ways to shape the microbiome with feed supplements or other strategies.

QsvR represses the transcription of polar flagellum genes in Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus produces dual flagellar systems, i.e., the sheathed polar flagellum (Pof) and numerous lateral flagella (Laf), both of which are strictly regulated by numerous factors. QsvR is an AraC-type regulator that controls biofilm formation and virulence of V. parahaemolyticus. In the present study, we showed that deletion of qsvR significantly enhanced swimming motility of V. parahaemolyticus, while the swarming motility was not affected by QsvR. QsvR bound to the regulatory DNA regions of flgAMN and flgMN within the Pof gene loci to repress their transcription, whereas it negatively controls the transcription of flgBCDEFGHIJ and flgKL-flaC in an indirect manner. However, over-produced QsvR was also likely to possess the binding activity to the regulatory DNA regions of flgBCDEFGHIJ and flgKL-flaC in a heterologous host. In summary, this work demonstrated that QsvR negatively regulated the swimming motility of V. parahaemolyticus via directly action on the transcription of Pof genes.

aTAP: automated transcriptome analysis platform for processing RNA-seq data by de novo assembly

RNA-seq is a sequencing technique that uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to explore and study the entire transcriptome of a biological sample. NGS-based analyses are mostly performed via command-line interfaces, which is an obstacle for molecular biologists and researchers. Therefore, the higher throughputs from NGS can only be accessed with the help of bioinformatics and computer science expertise. As the cost of sequencing is continuously falling, the use of RNA-seq seems certain to increase. To minimize the problems encountered by biologists and researchers in RNA-seq data analysis, we propose an automated platform with a web application that integrates various bioinformatics pipelines. The platform is intended to enable academic users to more easily analyze transcriptome datasets. Our automated Transcriptome Analysis Platform (aTAP) offers comprehensive bioinformatics workflows, including quality control of raw reads, trimming of low-quality reads, de novo transcriptome assembly, transcript expression quantification, differential expression analysis, and transcript annotation. aTAP has a user-friendly graphical interface, allowing researchers to interact with and visualize results in the web browser. This project offers an alternative way to analyze transcriptome data, by integrating efficient and well-known tools, that is simpler and more accessible to research communities. aTAP is freely available to academic users at https://atap.psu.ac.th/.

Expression of the AHPND Toxins PirAvp and PirBvp Is Regulated by Components of the Vibrio parahaemolyticus Quorum Sensing (QS) System

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in shrimp is caused by Vibrio strains that harbor a pVA1-like plasmid containing the pirA and pirB genes. It is also known that the production of the PirA and PirB proteins, which are the key factors that drive the observed symptoms of AHPND, can be influenced by environmental conditions and that this leads to changes in the virulence of the bacteria. However, to our knowledge, the mechanisms involved in regulating the expression of the pirA/pirB genes have not previously been investigated. In this study, we show that in the AHPND-causing Vibrio parahaemolyticus 3HP strain, the pirA^vp and pirB^vp genes are highly expressed in the early log phase of the growth curve. Subsequently, the expression of the PirA^vp and PirB^vp proteins continues throughout the log phase. When we compared mutant strains with a deletion or substitution in two of the quorum sensing (QS) master regulators, luxO and/or opaR (luxO^D47E, ΔopaR, ΔluxO, and ΔopaRΔluxO), our results suggested that expression of the pirA^vp and pirB^vp genes was related to the QS system, with luxO acting as a negative regulator of pirA^vp and pirB^vp without any mediation by opaR^vp. In the promoter region of the pirA^vp/pirB^vp operon, we also identified a putative consensus binding site for the QS transcriptional regulator AphB. Real-time PCR further showed that aphB^vp was negatively controlled by LuxO^vp, and that its expression paralleled the expression patterns of pirA^vp and pirB^vp. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) showed that AphB^vp could bind to this predicted region, even though another QS transcriptional regulator, AphA^vp, could not. Taken together, these findings suggest that the QS system may regulate pirA^vp/pirB^vp expression through AphB^vp.

Multi-Strain Tropical Bacillus spp. as a Potential Probiotic Biocontrol Agent for Large-Scale Enhancement of Mariculture Water Quality

Aquaculture is suffering from long-term water eutrophication in intensive models, whereas the knowledge of multi-strain/specie for improving water quality is extremely limited. Herein, we aimed to develop multi-strain tropical Bacillus spp. as a potential probiotic biocontrol agent for large-scale enhancement of mariculture water quality. Given the practical application, the optimum multi-strain tropical Bacillus spp. (B. flexus QG-3, B. flexus NS-4, and B. licheniformis XCG-6 with the proportion 5: 5: 4) as a probiotic biocontrol agent was screened and obtained, which effectively improved water quality by removing chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia-nitrogen, and nitrate and significantly inhibited Vibrio spp. even at relatively low bacterial concentrations (104 CFU/ml) in artificial feed wastewater and large-scale shrimp aquaculture ponds. More importantly, we found that the initial proportion of these three Bacillus sp. strains of multi-strain tropical Bacillus spp. markedly affected the final purification effects, whereas the initial concentration of that only influenced the purification rates at the early stage (0-48 h) instead of final purification effects. We reason that this multi-strain tropical Bacillus spp. as a good probiotic biocontrol agent could perform multiple actions, such as COD-degrading, nitrifying, denitrifying, and antagonistic actions, for large-scale enhancement of tropical aquaculture water. Additionally, the multi-strain tropical Bacillus spp. was safe for shrimp and could be stored for at least 240 days in spore form at room temperature. This multi-strain probiotic biocontrol agent may facilitate its adoption for further marine recirculating aquaculture system development and large-scale commercial application.