Serological and genetic characterization of Flavobacterium psychrophilum isolated from farmed salmonids in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey was the largest rainbow trout producer of the European countries in 2016, and the reason for this production is mainly attributed to its egg and fry production. Flavobacterium psychrophilum cause the highest rates of mortality in the starting to feeding stages of the fish. In the present study, twenty-five F. psychrophilum isolates recovered from rainbow trout, coruh trout and brook trout were analysed by RAPD-PCR, ERIC-PCR, REP-PCR and PCR-RFLP, including 16S rRNA, gyrA and gyrB gene regions and PCR-based serotyping method. The PCR-based molecular analysis showed that the isolates could not be differentiated exactly according to isolation source and geographical region. Most isolates were of type-1 and type-2, and some of them were of type-0 and type-3; in addition, one isolate showed a unique serotype. The combined analysis results showed that F. psychrophilum isolates discriminated as five different genotypes and all isolates were successfully discriminated based on host.