Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Aquatic Animal Health Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #428668
Research Project: Improving Warmwater Finfish Health through Pathogen Characterization, Vaccination, and Natural Feed Additives

Location: Aquatic Animal Health Research

Title: An optimized method for efficient conjugal transfer in Flavobacterium covae

Author
item LAFRENTZ, STACEY - Auburn University
item SMITH, HANNAH - Auburn University
item Lafrentz, Benjamin
item TATUM, JAKE - Auburn University
item Lange, Miles
item LILES, MARK - Auburn University

Submitted to: Journal of Fish Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2026
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Flavobacterium covae causes columnaris disease in freshwater fish, in particular channel catfish. Methods have been developed to modify Flavobacterium species to better understand their pathogenesis, but they have not worked effectively for more than one or two F. covae strains. In this study, the conjugation method, which is used to transfer plasmid DNA from a donor E. coli strain to the recipient F. covae strain, was optimized by changing the donor strain, conjugation medium and number of donor to recipient cells. Using the optimized conjugation method, seven F. covae strains attained the plasmid DNA. The optimized method was significantly more efficient at transferring the plasmid DNA to the seven recipient strains compared with the previous method with strain ML-17-22A performing the best overall. The optimized method from this study will be helpful for future researchers to help modify other F. covae strains to study virulence genes.

Technical Abstract: No technical abstract.