Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum
Abstract Background Microbial diseases cause considerable economic losses in aquaculture and new infection control measures often rely on a better understanding of pathogenicity. However, disease studies performed in fish hosts often require specialist infrastructure (e.g., aquaria), adherence to st...
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ftbiomed:oai:biomedcentral.com:s12866-015-0466-9 2023-05-15T15:31:45+02:00 Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum McMillan, Stuart Verner-Jeffreys, David Weeks, Jason Austin, Brian Desbois, Andrew 2015-06-23 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/15/127 en eng BioMed Central Ltd. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/15/127 Copyright 2015 McMillan et al. Alternative host Atlantic salmon Replacement reduction and refinement (3Rs) Vibriosis Wax moth larvae Research article 2015 ftbiomed 2015-06-27T23:57:56Z Abstract Background Microbial diseases cause considerable economic losses in aquaculture and new infection control measures often rely on a better understanding of pathogenicity. However, disease studies performed in fish hosts often require specialist infrastructure (e.g., aquaria), adherence to strict legislation and do not permit high-throughput approaches; these reasons justify the development of alternative hosts. This study aimed to validate the use of larvae of the greater wax moth ( Galleria mellonella ) to investigate virulence of the important fish pathogen, Vibrio anguillarum . Results Using 11 wild-type isolates of V. anguillarum , these bacteria killed larvae in a dose-dependent manner and replicated inside the haemolymph, but infected larvae were rescued by antibiotic therapy. Crucially, virulence correlated significantly and positively in larva and Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) infection models. Challenge studies with mutants knocked out for single virulence determinants confirmed conserved roles in larva and fish infections in some cases (pJM1 plasmid, rtxA ), but not all ( empA , flaA , flaE ). Conclusions The G. mellonella model is simple, more ethically acceptable than experiments on vertebrates and, crucially, does not necessitate liquid systems, which reduces infrastructure requirements and biohazard risks associated with contaminated water. The G. mellonella model may aid our understanding of microbial pathogens in aquaculture and lead to the timely introduction of new effective remedies for infectious diseases, while adhering to the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement (3Rs) and considerably reducing the number of vertebrates used in such studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Salmo salar BioMed Central |
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Open Polar |
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BioMed Central |
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ftbiomed |
language |
English |
topic |
Alternative host Atlantic salmon Replacement reduction and refinement (3Rs) Vibriosis Wax moth larvae |
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Alternative host Atlantic salmon Replacement reduction and refinement (3Rs) Vibriosis Wax moth larvae McMillan, Stuart Verner-Jeffreys, David Weeks, Jason Austin, Brian Desbois, Andrew Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
topic_facet |
Alternative host Atlantic salmon Replacement reduction and refinement (3Rs) Vibriosis Wax moth larvae |
description |
Abstract Background Microbial diseases cause considerable economic losses in aquaculture and new infection control measures often rely on a better understanding of pathogenicity. However, disease studies performed in fish hosts often require specialist infrastructure (e.g., aquaria), adherence to strict legislation and do not permit high-throughput approaches; these reasons justify the development of alternative hosts. This study aimed to validate the use of larvae of the greater wax moth ( Galleria mellonella ) to investigate virulence of the important fish pathogen, Vibrio anguillarum . Results Using 11 wild-type isolates of V. anguillarum , these bacteria killed larvae in a dose-dependent manner and replicated inside the haemolymph, but infected larvae were rescued by antibiotic therapy. Crucially, virulence correlated significantly and positively in larva and Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) infection models. Challenge studies with mutants knocked out for single virulence determinants confirmed conserved roles in larva and fish infections in some cases (pJM1 plasmid, rtxA ), but not all ( empA , flaA , flaE ). Conclusions The G. mellonella model is simple, more ethically acceptable than experiments on vertebrates and, crucially, does not necessitate liquid systems, which reduces infrastructure requirements and biohazard risks associated with contaminated water. The G. mellonella model may aid our understanding of microbial pathogens in aquaculture and lead to the timely introduction of new effective remedies for infectious diseases, while adhering to the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement (3Rs) and considerably reducing the number of vertebrates used in such studies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McMillan, Stuart Verner-Jeffreys, David Weeks, Jason Austin, Brian Desbois, Andrew |
author_facet |
McMillan, Stuart Verner-Jeffreys, David Weeks, Jason Austin, Brian Desbois, Andrew |
author_sort |
McMillan, Stuart |
title |
Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
title_short |
Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
title_full |
Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
title_fullStr |
Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Larva of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum |
title_sort |
larva of the greater wax moth, galleria mellonella, is a suitable alternative host for studying virulence of fish pathogenic vibrio anguillarum |
publisher |
BioMed Central Ltd. |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/15/127 |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_relation |
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/15/127 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2015 McMillan et al. |
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1766362264702550016 |