Lactococcus garvieae is the causative agent of lactococcosis and has been isolated from a wide variety of animals. In the present study, 34 strains of L. garvieae isolated from fish from different sources and locations were tested for the presence or absence of the following putative virulence genes: a capsule gene cluster (CGC), hemolysins 1, 2, and 3 (hly1, -2, -3), NADH oxidase, superoxide dismutase (sod), phosphoglucomutase (pgm), adhesin Pav (adhPav), adhesin PsaA (adhPsaA), enolase (eno), LPxTG-containing surface proteins 1, 2, 3, and 4 (LPxTG-1, LPxTG-2, LPxTG-3, LPxTG-4; where LPxTG means Leu-Pro-any-Thr-Gly), adhesin clusters 1 and 2 (adhCI, adhCII), and adhesin (adh). To determine the presence of the CGC, we developed a multiplex PCR. All strains of L. garvieae had the hly1, -2, -3, NADH oxidase, pgm, adhPav, LPxTG-2, LPxTG-3, sod, eno, adhPsaA, adhCII, and adhCII genes, while only the Lg2 strain contained the CGC. The virulent Lg2 strain contained all 17 virulent genes. All Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and French strains did not contain the CGC. The multiplex PCR assay was useful for the detection of the CGC genes. In conclusion, the CGC is not the only virulent factor in L. garvieae because strains that lack the CGC are virulent to rainbow trout. Single genes also might not be responsible for the virulence of L. garvieae.

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Introduction: In the present study, some of the commercial fish farms located in the Black Sea region of Turkey, were screened for bacteria between 2012 and 2014. Material and Methods: The bacterial agents isolated from fish were identified by classical biochemical tests and the rapid diagnostic tests (API 20 E and API 20 Strep). All strains were further identified by sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. The strains were also investigated for resistance to different antimicrobials by the disc diffusion method. Antibiotic resistance genes, including tetracycline (B), β-lactam (ampC, blaTEM, blaPSE), florfenicol (floR), erythromycine (ereA, ereB), sulphonamide (sulI, sulII), and trimethoprim (dhfr1) genes, were determined by the PCR method. Results: Vibrio anguillarum, Vibrio fluvialis, Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida, Pseudomonas luteola, Lactococcus garvieae, Streptococcus iniae, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Yersinia ruckeri were isolated from marine and freshwater cultured fish. According to the results of disc diffusion, all isolates were sensitive to florfenicol, trimethoprim+sulfamethoxazole, oxitetracycline, and enrofloxacin, and resistant to lincomycin, penicillin G, and amoxicillin. Also, sulI, sulII, and floR resistance genes were detected in the bacteria. Conclusion: The results of the study open up the opportunity to perform further investigations which could determine the possible role of ARGs in fish pathogens.

Biochemical test, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence PCR (ERIC-PCR) were used to compare 42 strains of Lactococcus garvieae isolated from different regions of Turkey, Italy, France and Spain. Twenty biotypes of L. garvieae were formed based on 54 biochemical tests. ERIC-PCR of genomic DNA from different L. garvieae strains resulted in amplification of multiple fragments of DNA in sizes ranging between 200 and 5000 bp with various band intensities. After cutting DNA with ApaI restriction enzyme and running on the PFGE, 11–22 resolvable bands ranging from 2 to 194 kb were observed. Turkish isolates were grouped into two clusters, and only A58 (Italy) strain was connected with Turkish isolates. Similarities between Turkish, Spanish, Italian and French isolates were <50% except 216-6 Rize strain. In Turkey, first lactococcosis occurred in Mugla, and then, it has been spread all over the country. Based on ERIC-PCR, Spanish and Italian strains of L. garvieae were related to Mugla strains. Therefore, after comparing PFGE profiles, ERIC-PCR profiles and phenotypic characteristics of 42 strains of L. garvieae, there were no relationships found between these three typing methods. PFGE method was more discriminative than the other methods.

The results of this study indicate that fish farming can significantly influence the antimicrobial resistance properties of bacteria isolated from sediment samples.