As 40% of all aquaculture production is lost to disease, sanitary control of the farmed species and their environment is extremely relevant. Thus, an early and efficient detection of the classical and emerging pathologies (including virus, bacteria, parasites) is essential.
The molecular methodologies (commonly known as “omic tools”) have gained much importance as invaluable tools to assess the welfare and health of farmed organisms. These “omic tools” can be used to develop databases with the signature of the major pathogens to allow the detection, identification and/or quantification of pathogenic agents in a faster and more reliable way, complementing the classical biochemical methodologies, directly impacting on the success of an aquaculture production.
Taking this into account, the strategy outlines in this work was to provide pathogen detection and identification by using molecular tools, such as PCR. Sequence data available in public databases was used to designed oligonucleotide primers that could specifically detect several bacteria species found in aquacultures in the Mediterranean, such as Photobacterium damselae, Tenacibaculum maritimum, Aeromonas salmonicida, Aeromonas hydrophila, and several subspecies of Vibrios, namely V. harveyi, V. anguillarum, V. pelagius, V. vulnificus, V. splendidus, and V. fischeri.
For a fastest detection of Vibrio sub-species, a multiplex PCR was used in which a combination of primers allowed for the specific detection of each vibrio in different samples. This reflects the usefulness of these protocols in the detection of the correct sub-specie while being time saving.
Altogether, our results show that a faster and more reliable detection of different pathogens in aquaculture can be performed for several bacteria and parasite species. Our results can also lead to the development of novel preventive and treatment measures, as well as mitigation tools, with the objective of control fish diseases, with subsequent reduction of economic losses for the aquaculture industry.
This study had the support of the projects DIVERSIAQUA II (Mar2020-P02M01-0656P) and SAUDE&AQUA (MAR 02.05.01 FEAMP 0009).