Aims:  To evaluate the frequency of the aerolysin (aerA), cytotoxic enterotoxin (alt) and serine protease (ahp) genes in Aeromonas hydrophila isolates from different sources, and to determine the relationship between the presence of these genes and virulence of A. hydrophila in zebrafish. Methods and Results:  Aeromonas hydrophila isolates from clinical cases (n = 40), from healthy fish (n = 22) and from water environment (n = 21) were analysed with respect to the prevalence of aerA, alt and ahp genes by PCR assay. These virulence factors occur among clinical isolates as well as among isolates from healthy fish and water environment. The majority (97·6%) of the strains examined carried one or more virulence genes. The isolates were divided into seven genetic profiles on the basis of PCR result: aerA+alt+ahp+ (62·7%), aerA+alt+ahp− (13·3%), aerA+alt−ahp+ (10·8%), aerA−alt+ahp+ (4·8%), aerA−alt−ahp+ (3·6%), aerA+alt−ahp− (2·4%) and aerA−alt−ahp− (2·4%). A higher frequency of genetic group aerA+alt+ahp+ was determined in the isolates from diseased animals compared to those from healthy fish or water environments. Virulence properties of 26 representative strains belonging to the seven genetic profiles were further characterized. Results demonstrated that as the present of virulence genes increased, the proteolytic, haemolytic and cytotoxic activities of extracellular products also increased. And the 50% lethal doses (LD50s) of aerA+alt+ahp+ isolates (<105) in zebrafish were lower when compared with the strains expressing one or combinations of two virulence genes (>106). Conclusions:  Virulence properties of A. hydrophila correlated well with the presence of virulence genes tested. aerA+alt+ahp+ was more frequent virulence genotype in A. hydrophila isolates from clinical diseases than from healthy fish and water environment, and the aerA+alt+ahp+ isolates were more virulent to zebrafish compared to the other six genetic profiles. Significant and Impact of the Study:  The detection for aerA, alt and ahp can be used for virulence typing of A. hydrophila isolates.

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Aeromonas hydrophila is a gram-negative bacterium that can infect a variety of aquatic and terrestrial animals. It is essential to develop a vaccine to reduce the economic losses caused by this bacterium in aquaculture worldwide. Here, an immunoproteomic assay was used to identify the immunogenic extracellular proteins of the Chinese vaccine strain J-1. Ten unique immunogenic proteins were identified from the two-dimensional electrophoresis immunoblot profiles by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) or MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS. One protein of interest, Omp38, was detected by antisera on two-dimensional immunoblots, suggesting that it might be located both extracellularly and in the membrane. In exploring the potential of Omp38 as a vaccine candidate in fish, we found the omp38 gene to be prevalent by PCR among different (36/48) A. hydrophila isolates. The recombinant Omp38 induced a strong antibody response in rabbits, and the polyclonal antibody could recognize a band of approximately 38 kDa in the immunoblots of outer membrane protein extracts from most (24/40) of the A. hydrophila strains, including different predominant serotypes in China. These results indicated that the outer membrane antigen identified in this study could be developed as a vaccine candidate to induce protective immunity against A. hydrophila infection.