TY - JOUR
T1 - Aphanomyces invadans in Atlantic menhaden along the East Coast of the United States
AU - Blazer, Vicki S.
AU - Lilley, J. H.
AU - Schill, W. B.
AU - Kiryu, Y.
AU - Densmore, C. L.
AU - Panyawachira, V.
AU - Chinabut, S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Professor K. Hatai, Nippon Veterinary and Animal Science University, Tokyo, for isolate NJM9701; Laurence Pieper and Craig Weedon, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, for assistance with fish collections; Kathy Spring for histologic preparations; and Darlene Bowling for media preparation. We also thank the following people for providing samples: Brett Coakley, Maryland Department of Natural Resources; Wolfgang Vogelbein, Virginia Institute of Maryland Science; John Hawke, Louisiana State University; Joyce Evans, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Edith Humphries, Delaware Department of Natural Resources; Susan Shipman, Georgia Department of Natural Resources; and George Riekerk, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The research was funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Chesapeake Bay Science Program and the Aquaculture Research Program of the Department for International Development of the UK.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - The cause of deeply penetrating ulcers of Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus has been the subject of significant research efforts in recent years. These lesions and the associated syndrome termed ulcerative mycosis have been observed along the East Coast of the United States since at least the early 1980s. Although Aphanomyces spp. were isolated from these lesions in the mid to late 1980s, similar lesions could not be reproduced by experimental infections of Atlantic menhaden with these isolates. The identical characteristic histologic appearance of granulomatous inflammation surrounding the penetrating fungal hyphae occurs in fish with epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS), as reported throughout South Asia, Japan, and Australia. Aphanomyces invadans has been found to be the causative agent of EUS in all of these countries. Using methods developed for the study of EUS, we successfully isolated an organism for which the DNA sequence, morphology, temperature and salinity growth characteristics, and infectivity of chevron snakehead Channa striata are identical to A. invadans. Using the polymerase chain reaction assay for A. invadans, we were able to demonstrate the presence of the organism from Atlantic menhaden lesions collected in U.S. estuarine waters from Delaware to South Carolina. In addition, the organism was present in lesions on a bluegill Lepomis macrochirus from a farm pond in Georgia and channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus from a farm pond in Louisiana.
AB - The cause of deeply penetrating ulcers of Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus has been the subject of significant research efforts in recent years. These lesions and the associated syndrome termed ulcerative mycosis have been observed along the East Coast of the United States since at least the early 1980s. Although Aphanomyces spp. were isolated from these lesions in the mid to late 1980s, similar lesions could not be reproduced by experimental infections of Atlantic menhaden with these isolates. The identical characteristic histologic appearance of granulomatous inflammation surrounding the penetrating fungal hyphae occurs in fish with epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS), as reported throughout South Asia, Japan, and Australia. Aphanomyces invadans has been found to be the causative agent of EUS in all of these countries. Using methods developed for the study of EUS, we successfully isolated an organism for which the DNA sequence, morphology, temperature and salinity growth characteristics, and infectivity of chevron snakehead Channa striata are identical to A. invadans. Using the polymerase chain reaction assay for A. invadans, we were able to demonstrate the presence of the organism from Atlantic menhaden lesions collected in U.S. estuarine waters from Delaware to South Carolina. In addition, the organism was present in lesions on a bluegill Lepomis macrochirus from a farm pond in Georgia and channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus from a farm pond in Louisiana.
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U2 - 10.1577/1548-8667(2002)014<0001:AIIAMA>2.0.CO;2
DO - 10.1577/1548-8667(2002)014<0001:AIIAMA>2.0.CO;2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036209557
SN - 0899-7659
VL - 14
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
JF - Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
IS - 1
ER -