Dr. Mark Strom
Program Manager
Program Staff Directory
Microbiology Home
Molecular Pathogenesis
Aeromonas salmonicida
Renibacterium salmoninarum
R. salmoninarum Genome Project
Vibrio vulnificus
Diagnostics development, identification tools
Applied Studies
BKD vaccines and chemotherapeutics
Disease Diagnostics and Pathology
Program Publications
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PIT tagging juvenile salmon for the 2001-2002 vaccine trials
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Microbiology Team is part of the Integrative Fish Biology Program in the Resource Enhancement and Utilization Technologies
Division of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. The
team carries out a mix of basic and applied research to support the NOAA Fisheries goals to Build
Sustainable Fisheries and Recover Protected Species. These research activities include projects to
characterize virulence factors of pathogenic bacteria that cause significant disease in important
fishery resources, particularly endangered salmon stocks and other marine fish, or that are part of
the normal bacterial flora of marine fish or shellfish and pose a significant threat to human
health. We are also working on molecular-based methods for rapid identification of bacteria
responsible for causing various fish diseases. These methods have the potential for much greater
sensitivity and accuracy, as well as speed in identifying harmful pathogens. We are testing new
antimicrobial therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of a serious disease of salmon, called
bacterial kidney disease. We also provide infectious disease diagnostic services for the NWFSC
Captive Broodstock Program to rebuild endangered salmon stocks. These services include health
certification for these stocks prior to their release in their native habitat.
Please visit the links listed on the left for more specific information about individual team
members and projects, or read on for more information on the research strategies we employ.
Research Strategies
The overall objective of this research is to mitigate adverse
impacts from diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms. The
identification and characterization of virulence determinants at the
genetic or molecular level can lead to the development of new
molecular-based methods for rapid detection and identification of the
pathogens under study, as well as new prevention and control measures
directed against specific virulence factors. Virulence factors are
those determinants or biological mechanisms utilized by pathogens to cause
disease, and include host adherence or colonization factors,
destructive toxins, cellular invasion and intracellular survival
factors, and other factors that allow a microorganism to evade the
host immune system, resist chemotherapeutic drugs such as
antibiotics, or to exploit host biological mechanisms for continued
survival and multiplication.
In general, research in this laboratory involves the identification
of genes encoding specific virulence factors (i.e., whose products
are directly involved in virulence), or genes that encode important
precursors or enzymes required for complete expression of a virulence
mechanism or pathway. We utilize molecular biological, genetic, and
biochemical tools to accomplish this. For example, one strategy is to
generate a "bank" of randomly placed mutations in the bacterial
chromosome and then screen for changes in a phenotype (a measurable
characteristic such as tissue cell adherence). The mutated genes can
then be isolated (cloned), and the DNA sequenced and compared to
large databases of genetic sequences in order to begin the functional
characterization of the gene product.
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