Identification of Flavobacterinium and Flexibacterin species by species-specific polymerase chain reaction primers to the 16S ribosomal RNA gene

Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
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Abstract

Species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers have been developed for the identification of the causative agents of warmwater and marine finrot in fish: Flavobacterium columnare (Flexibacter columnaris) and Flexibacter maritimus. Differences in gene sequence in the bacterial small-subunit (16S) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) were used to design the species-specific PCR primers. The previously reported species-specific PCR primers Psy1 and Psy2 for the identification of Flavobacterium psychrophilum (Flexibacter psychrophila), the causative agent of coldwater finrot, were also used to develop a speciation scheme for all three bacterial finrots. These three primer sets were successful in discriminating among yellow-pigmented bacteria as well as in speciating the three major pathogenic flexibacteria to fish. The primer sets were designed to produce uniquely sized subproducts of 16S rRNA for each species: Flavobacterium psychrophilum (1,100 base pairs, bp), F. columnare (800 bp), and Flexibacter maritimus (400 bp). These primers were shown to correctly speciate field isolates in double-blind experiments (P = 0.01).

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Identification of Flavobacterinium and Flexibacterin species by species-specific polymerase chain reaction primers to the 16S ribosomal RNA gene
Series title Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
DOI 10.1577/1548-8667(1998)010<0311:IOFAFS>2.0.CO;2
Volume 10
Issue 4
Year Published 1998
Language English
Publisher American Fisheries Society
Contributing office(s) Leetown Science Center
Description 9 p.
First page 311
Last page 319
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