Possiblities of biological disease management in aquaculture
Main funder
Funder's project number: 304615
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 297 316,00
Funding program
- Others, AoF (Academy of Finland)
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/10/2016
Project end date: 30/09/2018
Summary
Aquaculture production is a steadily growing food production industry, but hampered by a variety of diseases. This project aims to characterize lytic enzymes derived from bacteriophages, the viruses that infect only bacteria, to specifically degrade the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare from the fish farming environment. The lytic enzymes naturally hydrolyse bacterial cell wall during the phage infection cycle, and they have been demonstrated as efficient anti-infectives against several human pathogens. I will use experimental evolution to increase infectivity of the F. columnare phages. Potential lytic genes are identified using whole genome sequencing. Candidate lytic enzymes will be produced in E. coli, and their efficiency will be tested against the target pathogen cultures and in disinfection of bacterial biofilm grown in fish rearing tanks at a fish farm.
Principal Investigator
Primary responsible unit
Related publications
- Rearing background and exposure environment together explain higher survival of aquaculture fish during a bacterial outbreak (2019) Räihä, Ville; et al.; A1; OA
- Bacteriophage imaging : past, present and future (2018) De Freitas Almeida, Gabriel; et al.; A2; OA
- Broad thermal tolerance is negatively correlated with virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen (2018) Ashrafi, Roghaieh; et al.; A1; OA
