Publications by authors named "Geoffrey Waldbieser"

Article Synopsis
  • Type IV pili (T4P) are important structures in bacteria that assist with processes like sticking to surfaces and forming biofilms.
  • The study focuses on a unique Type IV pilus called tight adherence (Tad) in a specific bacterium (vAh) and explores its impact on the bacterium's ability to cause disease.
  • Results show that while removing the Tad operon didn't affect the bacteria's growth, it significantly reduced their ability to infect catfish and diminished biofilm formation, underscoring the Tad operon's crucial role in pathogenicity.
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The complete genome sequence is reported for isolate K2014767, isolated from a captive Caribbean spiny lobster () during a species-specific mortality event in a public display aquarium in the United States.

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Unlabelled: Piscine lactococcosis is a significant threat to cultured and wild fish populations worldwide. The disease typically presents as a per-acute to acute hemorrhagic septicemia causing high morbidity and mortality, recalcitrant to antimicrobial treatment or management interventions. Historically, the disease was attributed to the gram-positive pathogen .

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spp., including , are zoonotic bacterial pathogens that can cause morbidity and mortality in mammals, fish, reptiles, birds, and humans. The southern sea otter (SSO; ) is a federally-listed threatened species for which infectious disease is a major cause of mortality.

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White sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus is the primary species used for caviar and sturgeon meat production in the USA. An important pathogen of white sturgeon is acipenserid herpesvirus 2 (AciHV-2). In this study, 4 archived isolates from temporally discrete natural outbreaks spanning the past 30 yr were sequenced via Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies platforms.

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Enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC), caused by the gram-negative enteric bacteria Edwardsiella ictaluri, is a significant threat to catfish aquaculture in the southeastern United States. Antibiotic intervention can reduce mortality; however, antibiotic use results in an imbalance, or dysbiosis, of the gut microbiota, which may increase susceptibility of otherwise healthy fish to enteric infections. Herein, recovery of the intestinal microbiota and survivability of channel catfish in response to ESC challenge was evaluated following a 10-day course of florfenicol and subsequent probiotic or prebiotic supplementation.

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Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Northeastern US and Eastern Canada has high economic value for the sport fishing and aquaculture industries. Large differences exist between the genomes of Atlantic salmon of European origin and North American (N.A.

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Background: Channel catfish and blue catfish are the most important aquacultured species in the USA. The species do not readily intermate naturally but F hybrids can be produced through artificial spawning. F hybrids produced by mating channel catfish female with blue catfish male exhibit heterosis and provide an ideal system to study reproductive isolation and hybrid vigor.

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The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens; LST) is the only native sturgeon species in the Great Lakes (GL), but due to multiple factors, their current populations are estimated to be <1% of historical abundances. Little is known about infectious diseases affecting GL-LST in hatchery and wild settings. Therefore, a two-year disease surveillance study was undertaken, resulting in the detection and first in vitro isolation of a herpesvirus from grossly apparent cutaneous lesions in wild adult LST inhabiting two GL watersheds (Erie and Huron).

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An abundance of morphologically variable Henneguya species complicates the understanding of disease relationships between ictalurid catfish and myxozoan (Phylum: Cnidaria) parasites on North American aquaculture operations. Henneguya ictaluri, the cause of proliferative gill disease (PGD) in channel and hybrid catfish, is arguably the most important parasite of commercial catfish aquaculture in the southeastern United States. While research indicates arrested development and limited sporogenesis of H.

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Previous morphological and histological data are supplemented with molecular and ultrastructural data for a Henneguya sp. isolated from farm-raised channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus in Mississippi, USA. Myxospores were cryptic, encapsulated within a thin layer of epithelium in the gill lamellae with spore measurements consistent with the original description of Henneguya postexilis Minchew, 1977.

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Flavobacterium columnare is the causative agent of columnaris disease in freshwater fish and four discrete genetic groups exist within the species, suggesting that the species designation requires revision. The present study determined the taxonomic status of the four genetic groups of F. columnare using polyphasic and phylogenomic approaches and included five representative isolates from each genetic group (including type strain ATCC 23463; genetic group 1).

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Article Synopsis
  • The bacterium Edwardsiella piscicida is a major threat to catfish aquaculture, particularly affecting hybrid catfish in the southeastern U.S.
  • The study examined the genetic diversity of E. piscicida strains from diseased fish and their virulence, using advanced genetic testing methods to identify different groups of the bacteria.
  • Results showed that hybrid catfish are more susceptible to infection, with mortality rates significantly higher than in channel catfish, indicating urgent need for management strategies in the aquaculture industry.
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In 2015 and 2016, a previously unrecognized sp. was isolated from disease outbreaks in maricultured spotted rose snapper () on the Pacific coast of Central America. Polyphasic analysis demonstrated these bacteria differed from any known spp.

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Currently, there is still a need to improve the contiguity of the rainbow trout reference genome and to use multiple genetic backgrounds that will represent the genetic diversity of this species. The Arlee doubled haploid line was originated from a domesticated hatchery strain that was originally collected from the northern California coast. The Canu pipeline was used to generate the Arlee line genome de-novo assembly from high coverage PacBio long-reads sequence data.

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is a pathogenic bacterium responsible for significant losses in important wild and cultured fish species. strain MS-18-199 recovered from a diseased hybrid catfish from East Mississippi and showed resistance to florfenicol, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, erythromycin, tetracycline, azitromycin, spectinomycin, sulfonamide, and bacitracin. To explore the mechanisms of resistance in strain MS-18-199, genomic DNA was extracted and subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS) using a combination of long (Oxford Nanopore) and short (Illumina) reads.

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A recently described emergent disease of ornamental fish has been associated with an species positive for the surface protective antigen () C gene. Whole genome sequencing was performed on five isolates from diseased ornamental fish. In addition, these isolates were compared to and other -positive species isolated from terrestrial and marine mammals, birds and fish using multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA).

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are Gram-negative, non-spore forming rods belonging to the family within the class . These facultative anaerobic bacteria are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and have a broad host range. We present here the complete genome sequence of multidrug-resistant strain MS-18-37 isolated from diseased catfish.

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Background: Sex determination mechanisms in teleost fish broadly differ from mammals and birds, with sex chromosomes that are far less differentiated and recombination often occurring along the length of the X and Y chromosomes, posing major challenges for the identification of specific sex determination genes. Here, we take an innovative approach of comparative genome analysis of the genomic sequences of the X chromosome and newly sequenced Y chromosome in the channel catfish.

Results: Using a YY channel catfish as the sequencing template, we generated, assembled, and annotated the Y genome sequence of channel catfish.

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Background: Catfish farming is the largest segment of US aquaculture and research is ongoing to improve production efficiency, including genetic selection programs to improve economically important traits. The objectives of this study were to investigate the use of genomic selection to improve breeding value accuracy and to identify major single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with harvest weight and residual carcass weight in a channel catfish population. Phenotypes were available for harvest weight (n = 27,160) and residual carcass weight (n = 6020), and 36,365 pedigree records were available.

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IgM transcripts from different mucosal and systemic tissues from a single adult channel catfish have been evaluated. Arrayed heavy chain cDNA libraries from each of these different mucosal and systemic tissues were separately constructed, hybridized with VH family specific probes and a variety of approaches were used to define their structural relationships. Baseline hybridization studies indicated that the tissue libraries had different VH expression patterns, and sequencing studies indicated this was not simply due to varying proportions of the same B cell population.

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is a Gram-negative mesophilic motile bacterium causing acute hemorrhagic septicemia or chronic skin ulcers in fish. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of strain GA97-22, which was isolated from rainbow trout in 1997. This genome sequence will improve our understanding of the complex taxonomy of motile aeromonads.

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The microbiota of teleost fish has gained a great deal of research attention within the past decade, with experiments suggesting that both host-genetics and environment are strong ecological forces shaping the bacterial assemblages of fish microbiomes. Despite representing great commercial and scientific importance, the catfish within the family , specifically the blue and channel catfish, have received very little research attention directed toward their gut-associated microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Within this study we utilize multiple genetically distinct strains of blue and channel catfish, verified via microsatellite genotyping, to further quantify the role of host-genetics in shaping the bacterial communities in the fish gut, while maintaining environmental and husbandry parameters constant.

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Columnaris disease, caused by the Gram-negative bacterium , is one of the most prevalent fish diseases worldwide. An exceptionally high level of genetic diversity among isolates of has long been recognized, whereby six established genomovars have been described to date. However, little has been done to quantify or characterize this diversity further in a systematic fashion.

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spp. are responsible for significant losses in important wild and cultured fish species worldwide. Recent phylogenomic investigations have determined that bacteria historically classified as actually represent three genetically distinct yet phenotypically ambiguous taxa with various degrees of pathogenicity in different hosts.

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