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Introduction
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January 2012 - present
Publications
Publications (132)
Zoonotic poxviruses, including monkeypox virus (MPV), the causative agent for Mpox disease, have gained significant media and scientific attention due to recent outbreaks in human populations across the globe. The increase in human cases of poxvirus infection is not unexpected, as routine vaccination against smallpox (a disease caused by the poxvir...
Helminthic host defense peptides (HDP) are pleiotropic, multifunctional effector molecules of helminth immunity, efficient against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Among them, anisaxin-2S (A-2S), membranolytic cecropin-like HDPs produced by the zoonotic nematodes of the genus Anisakis, shows remarkable efficacy even against multidrug-resis...
Osmoregulation and ammonia removal are among key physiological processes that take place in gills and affect fish homeostasis and well‐being. These processes can be disrupted by numerous environmental factors, but also by viral infections, especially those leading to severe gill disorders. The mechanisms of how viruses disrupt osmoregulation and am...
Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are a group of 34–120 kDa nuclear proteins that have recently been reported to participate in virus replication. The hnRNP family contains approximately 20 members, including hnRNP A1, hnRNP A2, hnRNP A2B1, hnRNPC, hnRNPD and hnRNPK. HnRNPC plays important roles in RNA biology, including expression,...
Piscine orthoreovirus‐1 and 3 (PRV‐1, PRV‐3) cause highly prevalent infection in cultured salmonids and can induce heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) resulting in economic losses in aquaculture. However, to date, PRV‐1 and PRV‐3 have withstood replication in continuous cell lines. In this study, we used beating heart cell cultures obtain...
Environmental stressors such as micro‐ and nanosized plastic particles (MNPs) or crude oil have a detrimental effect on aquatic animals; however, the impact upon the cardiovascular system of fish remains relatively under‐researched. This study presents a novel approach for investigating the effect of crude oil and MNPs on the cardiac system of fish...
Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) is associated with pathological changes in the brain of infected fish, but the mechanisms driving the virus’s neuropathogenesis remain poorly characterized. TiLV establishes a persistent infection in the brain of infected fish even when the virus is no longer detectable in the peripheral organs, rendering therapeutic inter...
The AID/APOBECs are a group of zinc-dependent cytidine deaminases that catalyse the deamination of bases in nucleic acids, resulting in a cytidine to uridine transition. Secreted novel AID/APOBEC-like deaminases (SNADs), characterized by the presence of a signal peptide are unique among all of intracellular classical AID/APOBECs, which are the cent...
Introduction
Carp edema virus (CEV) is a fish poxvirus that primarily infects the gills of common carp. CEV causes koi sleepy disease (KSD), which is highly contagious and can result in mortality of up to 100%.
Methods
In the present study, we analyzed the stress and immune responses during KSD in two strains of common carp with different resistan...
Replacing fishmeal, a finite resource with high market demand, in the diet of carnivorous rainbow trout with proteins from alternative sources may be a challenge for these fish. Therefore, this study investigated whether replacing fishmeal with protein derived from Hermetia illucens or Arthrospira platensis could promote disease susceptibility in l...
Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is a novel contagious pathogen associated with a lethal disease affecting and decimating tilapia populations on several continents across the globe. Fish viral diseases, such as Tilapia lake virus disease (TiLVD), represent a serious threat to tilapia aquaculture. Therefore, a better understanding of the innate immune resp...
DExD/H-box helicase (DDX) 5 belongs to the DExD/H-box helicase family. DDX family members play differential roles in the regulation of innate antiviral immune response. However, whether DDX5 is involved in antiviral immunity remains unclear. In this study, we found that DDX5 serves as a negative regulator of type I interferon (IFN) response. Overex...
Carp edema virus disease (CEVD), also known as koi sleepy disease (KSD), represents a serious threat to the carp industry. The expression of immune-related genes to CEV infections could lead to the selection of crucial biomarkers of the development of the disease. The expression of a total of eleven immune-related genes encoding cytokines (IL-1β, I...
The circadian clock mechanism, which is evolutionarily conserved across various organisms, plays a crucial role in synchronizing physiological responses to external conditions, primarily in response to light availability. By maintaining homeostasis of biological processes and behavior, the circadian clock serves as a key regulator. This biological...
Gill disorders are responsible for substantial losses in the aquaculture industry. This is because gills are delicate and anatomically complex tissues, responsible for maintaining homeostasis in fish by being involved in many important physiological processes. Pathogens that infect gills, together with chemical irritants can modify the function of...
The slow discovery of new antibiotics combined with the alarming emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria underscores the need for alternative treatments. In this regard, fish skin mucus has been demonstrated to contain a diverse array of bioactive molecules with antimicrobial properties, including peptides, proteins, and other metabolites. This...
In poikilothermic animals like fish, outbreaks of pathogen-related diseases are closely related with the temperature of the surrounding environment. Many salmonid fish species are thermally sensitive and therefore are especially endangered by thermal stress and habitat loss caused by increasing temperatures during summer heat waves. We hypothesized...
Carp edema virus (CEV) is a poxvirus infecting gills of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and causes a deadly disease called koi sleepy disease (KSD). Currently thanks to higher vigilance and screening for its presence the virus was confirmed to be widespread on the European continent and affects both ornamental koi, farmed and feral common carp. Phylo...
Tilapia tilapinevirus (or tilapia lake virus, TiLV) is a recently emerging virus associated with a novel disease affecting and decimating tilapia populations around the world. Since its initial identification, TiLV has been reported in 17 countries, often causing mortalities as high as 90% in the affected populations. To date, no therapeutics or co...
Concerns about Anguillid herpesvirus 1 (AngHV‐1) in European eels, especially due to stocking measures, is increasingly coming into focus and raises questions regarding disease monitoring and prevention. In the past, stocking of AngHV‐1‐positive eels into waters assumed AngHV‐1‐free has led to a rapid increase of infected eels in the wild. For this...
Tilapia lake virus (TiLV), an enveloped negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus, causes tilapia lake virus disease (TiLVD), which is associated with mass mortality and severe economic impacts in wild and farmed tilapia industries worldwide. In this study, we developed a chitosan nanoparticle TiLV immersion vaccine and assessed the efficacy of the...
Several factors influence the susceptibility of cell lines to infection by different viruses. These can be related to tissue specificity of the viruses, physiological status of the cells, their differentiation level and their capacity to mount immune responses to combat viral infection. To study the influence of cell characteristics and immune resp...
Aeromonas salmonicida is recognized as a significant bacterial pathogen in ulcerative disease of cyprinid fish. However, the mechanism of immunity to these bacteria in common carp is still not well understood, especially the immune regulation in the gonad to bacterial infection. The aims of our study were to analyze changes in the seminal plasma pr...
The spread of viral diseases in eels is suggested to severely affect the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) panmictic population. The European Commission has initiated the Eel Recovery Plan (Council Regulation No. 1100/2007) to try to return the European eel stock to more sustainable levels within that measures eel restocking. However, scientific evi...
The high proliferation of microorganisms in aquatic environments has allowed their coevolution for billions of years with other living beings that also inhabit these niches. Among the different existing types of interaction, the eternal competition for supremacy between the susceptible species and their pathogens has selected, as part of the effect...
In latently infected spawners of carp, Koi herpes virus (KHV) can be detected during and after fishing stress, but in few animals and with low viral loads. Therefore, it may be overlooked in routine diagnostics. The viral genome can be detected in sex products and in samples of fertilized eggs. However, infection of newly hatched fry does not appea...
The emergence of viral diseases affecting fish and causing very high mortality can lead to the disruption of aquaculture production. Recently, this occurred in Nile tilapia aquaculture where a disease caused by a systemic infection with a novel virus named tilapia lake virus (TiLV) caused havoc in cultured populations. With mortality surpassing 90%...
Ornamental and laboratory fish populations are part of the global trade and can spread pathogens around the world. Laboratory fish are widely used as model for biomedical research, which can be impacted by underestimated health conditions affecting the fish model. The global ornamental fish industry deals with a huge diversity of fish species. High...
Ornamental and laboratory fish populations are part of the global trade and can spread pathogens around the world. Laboratory fish are widely used as model for biomedical research, which can be impacted by underestimated health conditions affecting the fish model. The global ornamental fish industry deals with a huge diversity of fish species. High...
Vaccination is the best form of protecting fish against viral diseases when the pathogen cannot be contained by biosecurity measures. Vaccines based on live attenuated viruses seem to be most effective for vaccination against challenging pathogens like Cyprinid herpesvirus 3. However, there are still knowledge gaps how these vaccines effectively pr...
Viral nervous necrosis (VNN) caused by the nervous necrosis virus (NNV) affects a broad range of primarily marine fish species, with mass mortality rates often seen among larvae and juveniles. Its genetic diversification may hinder the effective implementation of preventive measures such as vaccines. The present study describes different inactivati...
In mammals, the relationship between the immune system and behavior is widely studied. In fish, however, the knowledge concerning the brain immune response and behavioral changes during brain viral infection is very limited. To further investigate this subject, we used the model of tilapia lake virus (TiLV) infection of zebrafish (Danio rerio), whi...
This study outlines a multifactorial disease outbreak in a population of the freshwater shrimp Neocaridina davidi , with the focus on a rarely described parasitic alga. Within this multifactorial disease outbreak, low but consistent mortality was observed. During microscopic examination, an infection of the shrimp with bacterial and fungal-like age...
In carp aquaculture, hormonal manipulation with an analog of GnRH (Ovopel) and carp pituitary extract (CPE), which act at different levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, is a routine practice to enhance sperm production. Our recent studies revealed that hormonal stimulation of male carp was associated with changes in the seminal plasma...
Viral infections have been suggested to play a role in the decline of the panmictic population of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). However, despite the importance of knowledge about pathogenic eel viruses, little is known about their spread in the wild European eel population and only a few eel pathogenic viruses have been described so far. In...
Gills of fish are involved in respiration, excretion and osmoregulation. Due to numerous interactions between these processes, branchial diseases have serious implications on fish health. Here, “koi sleepy disease” (KSD), caused by carp edema virus (CEV) infection was used to study physiological, immunological and metabolic consequences of a gill d...
Carp edema virus (CEV) is the causative agent of koi sleepy disease (KSD), a serious gill disease affecting common carp, Cyprinus carpio, and its ornamental variety, koi. After recent detections of the virus in various countries around the world, KSD has emerged as a new global disease in carp. However, the prevalence of the infection in carp popul...
Membrane filtration devices are currently under investigation to assess their benefit for improving water quality in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and thus for improving fish health. Therefore , a membrane denitrification reactor (MDR) was tested in a semi-closed recirculation system in order to verify its benefit for fish health. The eff...
Tilapia lake virus (TiLV; genus: Tilapinevirus, family: Amnoonviridae) is a recently characterised enveloped virus with a linear, negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome, which causes high mortality in tilapia species. In the present study, we demonstrated that zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae are susceptible to TiLV infection upon sys-temic inject...
Cholesterol is essential for building and maintaining cell membranes and is critical for several steps in the replication cycle of viruses, especially for enveloped viruses. In mammalian cells virus infections lead to the accumulation of the oxysterol 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), an antiviral factor, which is produced from cholesterol by the chole...
Simple Summary
The clinical use of the human short pentraxin C-reactive protein as a health biomarker is expanded worldwide. The acute increase of the serum levels of short pentraxins in response to bacterial infections is evolutionarily conserved, as are the main functions of pentraxins. Interestingly, fish orthologs have been found to increase si...
Tropical shrimp, like Litopenaeus vannamei, in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are often kept at low water salinities to reduce costs for artificial sea salt and the amount of salty wastewater. Although these shrimp are tolerant against low salinities, innate immunity suppression and changes in the microbial composition in the wa...
The population of brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) in continental Europe is on the decline, with infectious diseases confirmed as one of the causative factors. However, no data on the epizootiological situation of wild fish in the Czech Republic are currently available. In this study, brown trout (n = 260) from eight rivers were examined for the pr...
Although the presence of spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) and carp edema virus (CEV) have already been documented for at least 5 years in Germany, this is the first report of an acute co-infection with these viruses in common carp in Germany associated with mortality.
In mammals, several non-RLR DExD/H-box RNA helicases are involve in sensing of viral nucleic acids and activation of antiviral immune response, however their role in the immune defense of fish is much less known. In this study, the expression profile of non-RLR DExD/H-box RNA helicase genes: ddx1, ddx3, dhx9, ddx21 and dhx36, was studied in zebrafi...
Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a very important fish species for warm‐water aquaculture in Croatia. All Croatian carp farms are subjected to a surveillance programme for the presence of koi herpesvirus (KHV), causing a deadly disease called koi herpesvirus disease (KHVD). However, there is no surveillance for other viral pathogens of importance l...
Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is a novel enveloped orthomyxo-like virus with a genome of 10 segments of linear negative-sense single-stranded RNA. It causes massive mortality of wild and farmed tilapia species and because of its spread in Asia, Africa, South and North America, it is considered a threat to tilapia aquaculture. Here, we have evaluated th...
glucans are frequently included in the diet of healthy common carp Cyprinus carpio as a pre‐emptive measure for combatting disease. In order to study the effect this has on the relationship between the gut bacteria and host immune response, carp were maintained on either a β‐glucan free diet or feed containing 0.1% MacroGard®, a β‐1/3, 1/6‐glucan,...
Introduction
Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is a virus infecting carp with disease symptoms of gill necrosis, fish discoloration, sunken eyes, and mortality reaching 90%. Several research groups have examined how to potentially abate the consequences of viral activity. Recently we showed that acyclovir inhibits CyHV-3 replication in vitro and in t...
LESSONS LEARNED FROM WELFARE STANDARDS IN TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS
Orally applied MacroGard ® , a β-glucan, at a concentration of 1% led to a reduced bacterial diversity and higher amounts of facultative pathogenic bacteria in the gut of tinfoil barb (Barbus schwanenfeldii), whereas a concentration of 0.1% led to a higher diversity. Further work is now needed to confirm these interesting observations.
During a disease outbreak, affected fish exhibit particular clinical signs and the task in veterinary diagnostics is to identify the causing agent(s) as a prerequisite for appropriate treatment measures. In this study, we present an outbreak of a multifactorial gill disease in a cohort of ornamental koi with gill necrosis as the main exterior clini...
Hormonal stimulation in common carp is a routine practice to enhance sperm production and control gamete maturation. This study aimed to compare the proteome of carp seminal plasma between control and Ovopel-induced males using two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis. Ovopel induction increased sperm volume, total sperm count, seminal p...
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a laboratory model organism used in different areas of biological research including studies of immune response and host–pathogen interactions. Thanks to many biological tools available, zebrafish becomes also an important model in aquaculture research since several fish viral infection models have been developed for zebr...
Carp from breeding strains with different genetic background present diverse levels of resistance to viral pathogens. Carp strains of Asian origin, currently being treated as Cyprinus rubrofuscus L., especially Amur wild carp (AS), were proven to be more resistant to koi herpesvirus disease (KHVD; caused by cyprinid herpesvirus 3, CyHV-3) than stra...
The proliferative darkening syndrome (PDS) is a lethal disease of brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) which occurs in several alpine Bavarian limestone rivers. Because mortality can reach 100%, PDS is a serious threat for affected fish populations. Recently, Kuehn and colleagues reported that a high throughput RNA sequencing approach identified a pisc...
Temperature is a major factor that modulates the development and reactivity of the immune system. Only limited knowledge exists regarding the immune system of the catadromous European eel, Anguilla anguilla, especially during the oceanic early life history stages. Thus, a new molecular toolbox was developed, involving tissue specific characterisati...
Exploring the mechanism of glucose uptake in the fish intestine is a part of studies aiming to explain the possible usage of carbohydrate, which could reduce the dietary protein level in fish diet. This serves as an effort to make aquaculture more economically and environmentally sustainable. In mammals and few fish species, the sodium-dependent gl...
Due to their pathogenic potential, identifying Vibrio species from recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for Pacific white shrimp (Litopennaeus vannamei) is of great importance to determine the risk for animal's as well as for the consumer's health. The present study compared identification results for a total of 93 Vibrio isolates, including typ...
Piscine orthoreoviruses (PRVs) are emerging pathogens causing circulatory disorders in salmonids. PRV‐1 is the etiological cause of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), characterized by epicarditis, inflammation and necrosis of the myocardium, myositis and necrosis of red skeletal muscle. In 2017, t...
The symbiotic relationship between a fish and its microbiome is important for the digestion of feed and the prevention of infection. Modulation of the gut microbiome is one potential method through which fish health may be improved and antibiotic reliance reduced.
MacroGard ® , a commercially available β-1,3/1,6-glucan, is commonly used within
aqua...
Koi sleepy disease (KSD) is a disease with increasing importance in global common carp aquaculture. Despite the fact that carp edema virus (CEV) is most likely the causative agent of KSD, the disease often presents itself as multifactorial with several parasites and bacteria species present on gills, skin or in internal organs. Therefore, in this s...
Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV‐3), also known as koi herpesvirus (KHV), is an aetiological agent of a virulent and lethal disease in common and koi carp. In this study, we examined in vitro the anti‐CyHV‐3 activity of acyclovir (ACV), nucleoside analogue commonly used against human herpesviruses, as well as acyclovir monophospate (ACV‐MP). The cytoto...
The establishment and in-depth characterization of a novel continuous cell line derived from fin tissue of common carp (Cyprinus carpio), CCApin, is reported. The cells of the cell line could be propagated in Leibovitz's L-15 medium containing 15% foetal calf serum and 0.5% carp serum for >150 passages during the last 24 months, with a stable fast...
The effect of dietary β-glucan on the bacterial community in the gut of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was examined after oral application of Aeromonas hydrophila. Carp received either feed supplemented with 1% MacroGard®, a β-1,3/1,6-glucan, or a β-glucan-free diet. Fourteen days after feeding, half of the carp from each group were intubated with 1...
Cholesterol is a major constituent of cell membranes and exhibits together with its oxidation products (oxysterols) several essential cellular functions. Additionally, it was recently shown to play a role during virus replication in fish. To investigate the involvement of cholesterol and oxysterols, for example, during a viral infection in fish cel...
Outbreaks of koi sleepy disease (KSD) caused by carp edema virus (CEV) may seriously affect populations of farmed common carp, one of the most important fish species for global food production. The present study shows further evidence for the involvement of CEV in outbreaks of KSD among carp and koi populations: in a series of infection experiments...
Hungary is an important carp producer with intensive trading relationships with farms in other carp producing areas in Europe. Carp in Europe were recently found infected with carp edema virus (CEV), a poxvirus which causes the koi sleepy disease (KSD) syndrome. Moribund carp were collected from 17 fish farms and angling ponds in different regions...
Carp edema virus (CEV) disease, also known as koi sleepy disease, is caused by a poxvirus associated with outbreaks of clinical disease in koi and common carp. Originally characterised in Japan in the 1970s, international trade in koi has led to the spread of CEV although the first recognised outbreak of the disease, outside Japan, was not reported...
In response to the constant challenge by potential pathogens, external surfaces of fish, their skin, gills and intestinal tract, are coated with mucus, a gel like substance which largely prevents the entry of pathogens. This mucus gel consists mainly of water and mucins, large O-glycosylated proteins, which are responsible for forming a gel like mi...
The Schlei fjord in northern Germany is the recipient water of a comprehensive eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), stocking programme. Since 2015, stocked eels become alizarin red S marked, but to date no control mechanism is implemented in this stock enhancement measure to prevent anthropogenic spreading of diseases. Consequentially, it was possible that...
Introduction.
The microbiome is an important component of the gut involved in resisting infections, digesting food, producing nutrients and maintaining homeostasis. Altering the microbiome in favour of so called “good” bacteria is currently a highly popular area of research in aquaculture however there are limited studies that relate these analyses...
The infection of common carp and its ornamental variety, koi with the carp edema virus (CEV) is often associated with the occurrence of a clinical disease called “koi sleepy disease” (KSD). The disease may lead to high mortality in both koi and common carp populations. To prevent further spread of the infection and the disease, a reliable detection...
Masculinized females, named sex-reversed females (SRF), have a male phenotype but retain the female genotype (XX) and all spermatozoa produced in their testes carry the X chromosome. Masculinization of females leads to incomplete testicular development and the production of lower-quality semen. The mechanism of masculinization is unknown at present...
The Schlei fjord in northern Germany is the recipient water of a comprehensive eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), stocking programme. Since 2015, stocked eels become alizarin red S marked, but to date no control mechanism is implemented in this stock enhancement measure to prevent anthropogenic spreading of diseases. Consequentially, it was possible that...
Transferrin (TF) is recognized as a multifunctional protein and has been implicated in antioxidative, antimicrobial protection, growth, differentiation and cytoprotection effects. An efficient, original three-step isolation procedure for TF consisting in hydrophobic interaction chromatography, gel filtration and preparative electrophoresis was deve...
Outbreaks of koi sleepy disease (KSD) caused by carp edema virus (CEV) may seriously affect populations of farmed common carp, one of the most important fish species for global food production. The present study shows further evidence for the involvement of CEV in outbreaks of KSD among carp and koi populations: in a series of infection experiments...
Masculinized females, named sexreversed females (SRF), have a male phenotype but retain the female genotype (XX) and all spermatozoa produced in their testes carry the X chromosome. Masculinization of females leads to incomplete testicular development and the production of lower-quality semen. The mechanism of masculinization is unknown at present....
A 'membrane-denitrification' reactor (MDR) was developed and tested in a semi-technical recirculation aquaculture system in comparison to a double - without MDR - as reference system. The MDR consisted of a reactor with an ultrafiltration membrane unit for removal of micro-particles (e.g. sludge flocs, bacteria and parasites). Specific carrier mate...
Common carp is a widespread freshwater fish inhabiting lower and mid streams of rivers and shallow confined waters in Eurasia. Carp aquaculture in shallow, man-made ponds has a long history and now common carp is the most widely cultured freshwater fish species in the world. In many regions, carp aquaculture secures food for the population and carp...
Alphaproteobacteria is a Class of bacteria synonymous with plant roots and soil,
however examples have previously been found within the gut of sea bass (Dicentrarchus
labrax) and yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). In each case, the Alphaproteobacteria represented a very small proportion of the microbiota population and no further discussion...
Carp edema virus (CEV), the causative agent of 'koi sleepy disease' (KSD), appears to be spreading worldwide and to be responsible for losses in koi, ornamental varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. Clinical signs of KSD include lethargic behaviour, swollen gills, sunken eyes and skin alterations and can easily be mistaken for other disease...
In 2014, infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV), a member of the genus Megalocytivirus, was detected for the first time in ornamental fish in Germany. Since 2013, angelfish Pterophyllum spp. originating from Colombia have experienced significant epizootics in a number of German retailers' facilities. The diseased fish showed symptoms s...
Reflecting the natural biology of mass spawning fish aquaculture production of fish larvae is often hampered by high and unpredictable mortality rates. The present study aimed to enhance larval performance and immunity via the oral administration of an immunomodulator, β-glucan (MacroGard(®)) in turbot (Scophthalmus maximus). Rotifers (Brachionus p...
Research conducted on the immune system of European (Anguilla anguilla) and Japanese eel (A. japonica) has to date focused on the cellular innate immune response to infections and have rarely involved molecular studies (Nielsen et al 2013). Very little knowledge exists about the immune system of the European eel and no information is yet available...
