Comparison of phenotypical and genetic identification of Aeromonas strains isolated from diseased fish

Molecular Detection and Characterization of Furunculosis and Other Aeromonas Fish Infections

“…To distinguish these mesophilic A. salmonicida strains from other mesophilic species like A. bestiarum or A. piscicola is practically impossible when using biochemical characteristics or the sequences of the 16S rRNA gene (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Figueras et al, 2011b;Martínez-Murcia et al, 2005). However, these species can be differentiated with sequences of the housekeeping gene rpoD (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010).…”

“…(Figueras et al, 2011b). Biochemical identifications in fact lack precision and tend to generate a lot of inconsistent results in comparison to those obtained by molecular methods (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Figueras et al, 2011b;Kozińska et al, 2002, Kozińska, 2007Nawaz et al, 2006).…”

“…These infections are mainly attributed to A. hydrophila, classically considered the most important species after A. salmonicida. However, the importance of the species A. hydrophila is overestimated because biochemical identification systems erroneously identify up to 70-80% of the strains of Aeromonas as belonging to this species, when in fact they are many different species when identified by molecular methods (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Figueras, 2005;2011b;Soler et al, 2003a). Prevalent motile species associated to diseased fish following molecular identification include A. veronii, associated with catfish, A. sobria with tilapia and trout, A. hydrophila with trout, A. bestiarum with carp and the recently described A. piscicola recovered from diseased salmonids and turbots (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Kozińska, 2007;Li & Cai, 2011;Martino et al, 2011;Nawaz et al, 2006;Soriano-Vargas et al, 2010).…”

“…Other motile species, such as A. encheleia, A. allosaccharophila, A. jandaei, A. media, A. eucrenophila, A. aquariorum and A. tecta have also been recovered from healthy or diseased fish, though less often (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Kozińska, 2007).…”

“…Using biochemical and genetic methods in parallel for species identification has allowed big discrepancies to be highlighted and the characteristic phenotypic traits that might be responsible for the confusion to be discovered (Beaz-Hidalgo et al, 2010;Kozińska, 2007;Nawaz et al, 2006).…”