Physiological responses of reared sea bream (Sparus aurata Linnaeus, 1758) to an Amyloodinium ocellatum outbreak

M. Moreira, D. Schrama, F. Soares, T. Wulff, P. Pousão-Ferreira, P. Rodrigues*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Amyloodiniosis represents a major bottleneck for semi-intensive aquaculture production in Southern Europe, causing extremely high mortalities. Amyloodinium ocellatum is a parasitic dinoflagellate that can infest almost all fish, crustacean and bivalves that live within its ecological range. Fish mortalities are usually attributed to anoxia, associated with serious gill hyperplasia, inflammation, haemorrhage and necrosis in heavy infestations; or with osmoregulatory impairment and secondary microbial infections due to severe epithelial damage in mild infestation. However, physiological information about the host responses to A. ocellatum infestation is scarce. In this work, we analysed the proteome of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) plasma and relate it with haematological and immunological indicators, in order to enlighten the different physiological responses when exposed to an A. ocellatum outbreak. Using 2D-DIGE, immunological and haematological analysis and in response to the A. ocellatum contamination we have identified several proteins associated with acute-phase response, inflammation, lipid transport, homoeostasis, and osmoregulation, wound healing, neoplasia and iron transport. Overall, this preliminary study revealed that amyloodiniosis affects some fish functional pathways as revealed by the changes in the plasma proteome of S. aurata, and that the innate immunological system is not activated in the presence of the parasite.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1545-1560
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Fish Diseases
Volume40
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Amyloodinium ocellatum
  • Gilthead sea bream
  • Physiological responses
  • Proteomics

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