Investigation of aquatic pathogens and diversity analysis of Aeromonas isolates

Abstract

Epidemic survey and genetic characterization of aquatic pathogens from the aquatic product and sea water samples collected in Tianjin and Xiamen, Fujian, China. Selective media were used for aquatic pathogens isolations and sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene was used for bacteria identification. Totally, 120 isolates were isolated and identified, including Aeromonas spp. (53), Vibrio spp. (19), Proteus spp. (5), Citrobacter spp. (9), Hafnia spp. (8), Providencia spp. (6), Pseudomonas spp. (3), Kluyvera spp. (2), Enterobacter spp. (2), Bacillus spp. (2), Pantoea sp. (1), Leclercia sp. (1), and Acinetobacter sp. (1). MLST (multilocus sequence typing) was used for discrimination of the Aeromonas spp. isolates and 53 Aeromonas strains were identified having 297 new allelic genes and 45 new sequence types (ST). The eBURST algorithm analysis showed that most STs were distantly related. The isolated pathogens were mainly comprised of Aeromonas spp. and Vibrio spp. A great genetic diversity was observed among the isolated Aeromonas strains.