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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Leetown, West Virginia » Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #207471
Title: Application of Microbial Genomics to Improve Aquatic Animal Health

Author
item Wiens, Gregory - Greg

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/12/2006
Publication Date: 9/2/2006
Citation: Wiens, G.D. 2006. Application of Microbial Genomics to Improve Aquatic Animal Health. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genome sequencing and comparative genome analysis have greatly increased our understanding of microorganism gene content, pathogenesis, taxonomy, and evolution. Currently, there are over three hundred completed, publicly-available microbial genomes. To date, no genome of an aquatic animal pathogen has been published; however, seven on-going projects are listed in the Genomes-OnLine Database (V2.0). This presentation will focus on the Renibacterium salmoninarum Genome Sequencing Project to illustrate the process of genome sequencing, assembly, annotation, and application of the resulting data. The Renibacterium genome project is a partnership between federal (NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center and USDA/ARS National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture), academic (Oregon State University and the University of Washington Genome Center), and private (Integrated Genomics, Chicago) laboratories. The genome of Renibacterium salmoninarum ATCC 33209 is a single, circular chromosome of 3,155,250 bp. A total of 3,607 predicted open reading frames (ORFs) have been identified and 2,396 ORFs were assigned annotation by Integrated Genomics ERGO bioinformatics platform. The remaining 1,211 ORFs have been manually inspected and annotated by the investigators. A total of 221 ORFs have no assigned function or similarity to other microbial genes and thus appear to be unique to R. salmoninarum. No plasmids or integrated phage were identified. We have used PSORTb v2.0, SignalP 3.0 and other motif finding programs to predict protein cellular localization and to develop a list of potential vaccine candidates. Research to identify single nucleotide variants will be discussed. In summary, the R. salmoninarum genome sequence is a new resource for understanding host-pathogen interactions and for developing improved methods of bacterial kidney disease control.