Location: Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research
Project Number: 8082-32000-007-001-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2015
End Date: Jul 31, 2020
Objective:
The objectives of this project are to:
(i) Determine annual variability of microbiota from aquaculture facility.
(ii) Identify virulence factors using comparative genomics.
Approach:
We will determine the annual variability of microbiota from select aquaculture facilities using metagenomic approaches. Samples will be collected from several locations and monitored over time for changes in the relative abundance of 16S rRNA gene sequences of different microorganisms. This will be achieved by Illumina sequencing the V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. This work will help to predict when the pathogens occur at a facility and if a detection is possible before an outbreak occurs. For virulence factor identification, genomes from Aeromonas strains ranging from benign to pathogenic will be sequenced. We will then search the genomes for effectors by comparing the genes to known T3SS effectors from other organisms. To avoid false positives, we will compare the positive hits to genomes from strains that do not have a T3SS. Representative presumptive effectors will be verified. Mutants can be evaluated in models for symbiosis and pathogenesis to identify specific factors for causing disease.
