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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #351988
Research Project: The Role of Mucosal Surfaces and Microflora in Immunity and Disease Prevention

Location: Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr

Title: Fish mucus alters the Flavobacterium columnare transcriptome

Author
item Lange, Miles
item Farmer, Bradley
item Abernathy, Jason

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/30/2018
Publication Date: 4/23/2018
Citation: Lange, M.D., Farmer, B.D., Abernathy, J.W. 2018. Fish mucus alters the Flavobacterium columnare transcriptome [abstract]. Meeting Abstract, 4th Annual Meeting of the Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium AR-BIC 2018,April 23-24th, 2018, Little Rock, ARkansas. p. 56.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Columnaris disease which is caused by Flavobacterium columnare severely impacts the production of freshwater finfish species. Due to the impact on the aquaculture industry, research efforts to better understand the biological processes of F. columnare including the formation of biofilms and their contribution to disease are ongoing. The current work sought to evaluate the planktonic and biofilm transcriptomes of F. columnare isolate 94-081 under different growth conditions. Our data shows that fish mucus enhances in vitro biofilm formation. Global analysis of F. columnare transcriptomes stimulated with or without fish mucus revealed significant variability among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the planktonic and biofilm states. DEGs that were common among all biofilms were enriched for bacterial gene ontology groups such as signal transduction, ligand binding and cellular homeostasis and are likely necessary for biofilm formation. In addition different iron acquisition machinery including TonB dependent receptor and ferroxidase genes were expressed among all biofilms. The increased expression of TonB dependent receptor genes and the identification of siderophore synthesis genes among only mucus-stimulated biofilms help to validate a role for the TonB system as a virulence factor. Other DEGs specific to mucus-stimulated biofilms revealed gene ontology groups associated with ribosome biogenesis and protein translation. The current analysis of F. columnare transcriptomes adds valuable information about the basic biological processes that occur during the planktonic to biofilm transition. This work will ultimately allow for a better understanding of how biofilms affect F. columnare virulence and initiate disease.