Pathogenicity of Vibrio splendidus strains associated with turbot larvae, Scophthalmus maximus

J. F. Gatesoupe (1) , Christophe Lambert (2, 3) , Jean-Louis Nicolas (4)

1 Unité mixte de Nutrition des Poissons INRA-IFREMER
2 LEMAR - Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR)
3 UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany
4 PE2M - Physiologie et Ecophysiologie des Mollusques Marins

Turbot larvae were challenged with eight strains of Vibrio splendidus isolated from diseased larvae, plus a ninth strain pathogenic to scallop larvae (A515; Nicolas et al. 1996). Six strains caused heavy mortality but the scallop pathogen and the other two strains did not. All the strains shared a large number of phenotypic traits, and an attempt was made to relate virulence to genotype and phenotype. Five of the six pathogenic strains were very similar, as shown by RAPD fingerprinting and phenotypic characteristics. The relatedness of the other strains was intermediate between the main pathogenic group and V. splendidus ATCC 33125, but the DNA-DNA homology between the pathogenic group and the reference strain was still high (78% of reassociation rate). The non-pathogenic isolates may be a useful tool for determining the possible virulence factors, as all the isolates differed by few characteristics.

Domaines: Biologie animale

J. F. Gatesoupe, Christophe Lambert, Jean-Louis Nicolas. Pathogenicity of Vibrio splendidus strains associated with turbot larvae, Scophthalmus maximus. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 1999, 87, pp.757-763. ⟨hal-00616665⟩