Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (9): 2068-2078.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20221113

• Animal Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Genome-wide analysis of pathogenicity and drug resistance of Micropterus salmoides-derived Aeromonas veronii strain AV040

ZOU Wenteng(), LIU Zhenhong, YANG Jingxuan, LU Yangyang, PENG Kaisong()   

  1. Laboratory of Aquaculture Health and Public Health, College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
  • Received:2022-07-28 Online:2023-09-25 Published:2023-10-09
  • Contact: PENG Kaisong

Abstract:

An outbreak of fry mortality occurred during the ponding period of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) from a farm in Anhui, China in July 2021. After excluding parasitic and viral infections, multiple strains of bacteria were isolated from the spleen and kidney of the affected fish, and a highly pathogenic strain of Aeromonas veronii(A. veronii) strain AV040 was screened by identification, single-colony β-hemolysis test of blood plate and regression infection. Whole genome sequencing of AV040 (GenBank ID: CP095841) revealed 253 coding sequences for virulence genes, of which 156 encoded for adherence molecules, 85 for secretion system and 12 for toxin. The median lethal dose (LD50) of AV040 was 6.53×106 CFU·g-1 and 2.97×107 CFU·g-1 for largemouth bass (about 10 g) and Kunming white mice (about 20 g), respectively. The infected largemouth bass exhibited hemorrhage in pectoral and ventral fins, anus, hepatopancreas, spleen and pyloric pendulum, and the infected mice exhibited curling, squinting and trembling, and hemorrhage in the liver and intestine. Five resistance genes in the whole genome of AV040 and K-B drug sensitivity test were performed for phenotypic validation. Among them, OXA-912 and cphA3 were associated with carbapenem resistance and imipenem resistance to carbapenem; rsmA and adeF were associated with aminoglycosides, quinolones and tetracyclines, with sensitivity to gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin and butamikana of the aminoglycosides, norfloxacin, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin of the quinolones, and doxycycline and tetracycline of the tetracyclines. EF-Tu mutants were associated with resistance to the rifamycins of the rifamycin class. No resistance genes were detected in the genome of strain AV040, but antibiotics phenotypical resistance of antibiotics including clindamycin and lincomycin of the lincomycin class, metronidazole of the nitroimidazole class, meperidine of the methicillin class, penicillin G and ampicillin of the penicillins class were shown. Based on whole-genome sequencing, this study resolved the complex relationship between phenotypes and genotypes of pathogenicity and drug resistance of AV040 strain, and deepened the understanding of the pathogenesis of A. veronii of largemouth black bass origin.

Key words: Micropterus salmoides, Aeromonas veronii, virulence, drug resistance, whole genome

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