The northern biotype of Echinococcus granulosus occurs in North America and northern Eurasia in life-cycles involving cervids. Previously, cervid isolates of E. granulosus from North America have been characterized using molecular genetic techniques as the G8 genotype. In this study, 5 isolates of E. granulosus were collected from 4 reindeer and 1 moose in north-eastern Finland. DNA sequences within regions of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase I (NI)I) genes and the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) fragment of the ribosomal DNA were analysed. The mitochondrial nucleotide sequences were identical in all isolates, but high sequence variation was found in the ITS-1 region. Mitochondrial and nuclear sequences of the Finnish cervid E. granulosus and the camel strain (G6) of E. granulosus resembled closely each other. According to phylogenetic analyses, the Finnish isolates have close relationships also with the pig (G7) and cattle (G5) strains. Although some similarities were found with the previously published North American cervid strain (G8), particularly in the NDI sequence and some of the ITS-1 clones, the Finnish E. granulosus form represents a distinct, previously undescribed genotype of E. granulosus. The novel genotype is hereby named as the Fennoscandian cervid strain (G10).

Columnaris disease caused by Flavobacterium columnare is a problem in fish farming worldwide. During the last 15 yr, outbreaks have started to emerge in Finland. Flavobacterium columnare Type Strain NCIMB 2248 T and 30 Finnish F. columnare isolates were studied using analysis of 16S rDNA by restriction-fragment length polymorphism (16S RFLP), length heterogeneity analysis of polymerase chain reaction (LH-PCR) products, automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA), and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. All isolates fell into RFLP Genomovar I and had the same length in the LH-PCR analysis. Based on ARISA, 8 genetically different strains were selected for further analyses. The growth of these strains under different temperatures, NaCl concentrations, and pH values was tested. The Finnish F. columnare strains did not grow at NaCl concentrations >0.1% or at pH values ≤6.5, and they were susceptible to several antimicrobial agents, but not to Polymyxin B or neomycin. These findings may aid in development of methods for disease management at fish farms.KEY WORDS: Flavobacterium columnare · ARISA · RFLP · 16S rRNA gene sequencing Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherDis Aquat Org 70: [55][56][57][58][59][60][61] 2006 tives for the prevention and treatment of the disease. The use of oxytetracycline is the only method practically applied for the treatment of columnaris disease in Finland, so there is a real threat of development of resistant strains. Therefore, physiological testing and genetic typing of F. columnare isolates is of great importance for understanding the increasing severity of outbreaks and for designing disease management strategies. Tolerance to salinity is of special interest, since columnaris disease has not been reported from coastal areasof Finland, where the salinity of the brackish water is between 2 and 7 ‰. However, F. columnare Type Strain NCIMB 2248 T (National Collection of Industrial, Marine, and Food Bacteria) is known to grow in media with 0.5% NaCl (Bernardet & Grimont 1989).In the present study, we investigated 30 Finnish Flavobacterium columnare isolates obtained from disease outbreaks in northern and central Finland, in order to select representative strains for further analysis. The molecular diversity of these strains was studied using 16S rDNA RFLP, LH-PCR (length heterogeneity analysis of polymerase chain reaction products, Suzuki et al. 1998), and ARISA (automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, Fisher & Triplett 1999). Using this information, 8 genetically different strains were selected for the physiological analysis. The growth patterns of 8 selected strains were studied under different temperatures, salt concentrations, and pH, as well as the susceptibility of the strains to various antibiotics, to gather information for developing potential disease management strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains and DNA extraction. Thirty Flavobacterium columnare strains isolated from disease outbreaks at Finnish fis...

No abstract

Finnish isolates (n=37) of Flavobacterium psychrophilum isolated from farmed salmonids were studied using phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. The characteristics of isolates were compared with the characteristics of Swedish and Estonian F. psychrophilum isolates and the type strain, F. psychrophilum NCIMB 1947T. Multiple isolates from eight disease outbreaks were examined to determine differences between isolates from a single outbreak. The F. psychrophilum isolates represented a biochemically homogeneous group. However, some minor differences in biochemical and physiological characteristics were observed. Seven different antigenic patterns among Finnish isolates were detected and the results suggest a new serotype of F. psychrophilum. Using ClaΙ, HaeΙΙΙ and PvuΙΙ restriction enzymes in ribotyping analyses 13 different genotypes were demonstrated and a possible relationship between serotype Fd and genotype F1 was determined. There were no significant differences between the isolates from Finland, Estonia, Sweden and the type strain of F. psychrophilum.

Short CommunicationRecent isolates of parapoxvirus of Finnish reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are closely related to bovine pseudocowpox virus