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Special Issue "Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes"

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A special issue of Fishes (ISSN 2410-3888). This special issue belongs to the section "Welfare, Health and Disease".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2023) | Viewed by 4529

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zhitao Qi

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Guest Editor

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Marine Wetland, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China
Interests: Aquaculture; innate immune; pattern recognition receptor; immune signaling pathway

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues，

The journal Fishes is preparing a Special Issue entitled “Study in Immune System and Disease of Fish”. Fish are lower vertebrates but possess both innate immunity and adaptive immunity. However, some differences exist in fish and mammalian immune systems. Studying the fish immune system is important for understanding the evolution of the immune system. In addition, with the expansion of fish culture, the occurrence of disease has increased greatly. Understanding the immune response to diseases is essential for preventing them by using immune strategies, such as vaccine development against a specific pathogen or molecular breeding strains of fish with enhanced resistance to major diseases. We welcome the submission of original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and perspective articles on topics including (but not limited to) the following:

Characterization of immune molecules of fish innate or adaptive immunity;
Functions of immune molecules of fish innate or adaptive immunity;
Immune response of fish against diseases or pathogens.

Prof. Dr. Zhitao Qi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

fish
immune molecular
immune responses
diseases
pathogens

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Application of a Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Stimulated Mitogenesis Assay in Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) to Augment Wild Fish Health Studies

Cheyenne R. Smith

Christopher A. Ottinger

Heather L. Walsh

Patricia M. Mazik

and

Vicki S. Blazer

Fishes 2023, 8(3), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes8030159 - 10 Mar 2023

Viewed by 252

Abstract

The utility of a functional immune assay for smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) lymphocyte mitogenesis was evaluated. Wild populations in the Potomac River have faced disease and mortality with immunosuppression from exposure to chemical contaminants a suspected component. However, a validated set of immune parameters to screen for immunosuppression in wild fish populations is not available. Prior to use in ecotoxicology studies, ancillary factors influencing the mitogenic response need to be understood. The assay was field-tested with fish collected from three sites in West Virginia as part of health assessments occurring in spring (pre-spawn; April–May) and fall (recrudescence; October–November). Anterior kidney leukocytes were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from E.coli O111:B4 or mitogen-free media and proliferation was measured using imaging flow cytometry with advanced machine learning to distinguish lymphocytes. An anti-smallmouth bass IgM monoclonal antibody was used to identify IgM+ lymphocytes. Lymphocyte mitogenesis, or proliferative responses, varied by site and season and positively and negatively correlated with factors such as sex, age, tissue parasites, and macrophage aggregates. Background proliferation of IgM− lymphocytes was negatively correlated to LPS-induced proliferation in both seasons at all sites, but only in spring for IgM+ lymphocytes. The results demonstrate that many factors, in addition to chemical contaminants, may influence lymphocyte proliferation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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Open AccessArticle

Efficacy of Different Routes of Formalin-Killed Vaccine Administration on Immunity and Disease Resistance of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Challenged with Streptococcus agalactiae

Seyed Hossein Hoseinifar

Mohamed Saiyad Musthafa

Mahmoud A. O. Dawood

and

Hien Van Doan

Fishes 2022, 7(6), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060398 - 19 Dec 2022

Viewed by 889

Abstract

Vaccines prepared from formalin-killed Streptococcus agalactiae were administered to Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) via three different routes: immersion in a water-based vaccine, injection with an oil-based vaccine, and as a water-based oral vaccine. All vaccination treatments increased lysozyme and peroxidase activity in skin mucus of Nile tilapia by 1.2- to 1.5-fold compared to their activities in unvaccinated control fish. Likewise, alternative complement, phagocytosis, and respiratory burst activities in the blood serum of the vaccinated fish were 1.2- to 1.5-times higher than in the unvaccinated fish. In addition, the expression transcripts of interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) were 2.3- to 2.9-fold higher in the vaccinated fish compared to those in the unvaccinated control. The unvaccinated fish challenged with Streptococcus agalactiae had a survival rate of 25% compared to a survival rate of 78–85% for the vaccinated fish. The differences between the unvaccinated and vaccinated fish were all statistically significant, but there was no significant difference in any of the indicators of immunity between the three vaccinated groups. Collectively, these results confirm that vaccination with formalin-killed Streptococcus agalactiae significantly improved the resistance of Nile tilapia to infection by the pathogen. Overall, the efficacy of oral administration of the vaccine was comparable to that of vaccine administered via injection, indicating that oral vaccination is a viable cost-effective alternative to administering vaccines by injection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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Open AccessArticle

Development of an Immunoassay Detection System for Koi Herpesvirus Using Recombinant Single-Chain Variable Fragments

Haneul Seo

Andre Ditya Maulana Lubis

and

Fishes 2022, 7(6), 370; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060370 - 02 Dec 2022

Viewed by 578

Abstract

Koi herpesvirus (KHV) is a highly contagious virus that causes high mortality in koi and common carp, leading to a reduction in production worldwide. Recent diagnostic tests based on molecular methods alone (nucleic acid amplification) and indirect immunoassay methods (antibody detection) can be confirmed over KHV infections or prior exposure and latent infections. Unfortunately, there is no established method to detect KHV virus particles, especially when virus titers are low. Therefore, we propose an alternative, direct immunoassay method for viral detection using a single-chain variable fragment (scFv), a specific region of IgG antibodies that binds specifically to KHV particles. The results of functional analyses indicated that four putative scFv candidates, C5, F8, F6, and E4, were specific to KHV, but only F6 and C5 had a high binding affinity. The binding characteristics were confirmed by indirect competitive and sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, which indicated that F6 and C5 have a broad penetration area to the binding region and share a similar epitope with commercial KHV monoclonal antibodies. These characteristics were further confirmed by their interactions with purified KHV coat protein by indirect ELISA and Western blot analyses. In conclusion, the F6 and C5 scFvs have adequate binding affinity to KHV particles to permit their use in immunoassays. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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Open AccessArticle

Transferrin Mediated NCC Killing Activity through NCCRP-1 in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

and

Fishes 2022, 7(5), 253; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7050253 - 23 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 696

Abstract

Non-specific cytotoxic cell l (NCC) is a kind of important lymphocyte participating in the non-specific immune response in teleost. Non-specific cytotoxic cell receptor protein 1 (NCCRP-1) is a receptor molecule on the surface of NCC and plays an important role in mediating the activity of NCC. However, there are few reports on which signal molecule could transmit signals through NCCRP-1. In this study, yeast two-hybrid library of tilapia liver and head kidney was constructed, and a transferrin from Oreochromis niloticus (On-TF) with interaction protein sequence was obtained by screening the library with bait vector NCCRP-1 of Oreochromis niloticus (On-NCCRP-1). Then, the open reading frame (ORF) of On-TF was cloned, which had 2088 bp in length, encoding polypeptides of 695 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence was highly homologous to teleost and similar to mammalian TF, containing two TR_FER domains (25-343th aa and 344-686th aa) for binding iron ions. Furthermore, a point-to-point yeast two-hybrid method was used to further verify whether On-NCCRP-1 could bind to On-TF. The recombinant On-TF (rOn-TF) protein was purified by prokaryotic expression system. In vitro experiments showed that rOn-TF could up-regulate the expression of killing effector molecule of NCC by On-NCCRP-1, and rOn-TF-activated NCCs showed a significantly improved ability to kill FHM cells, indicating that rOn-TF could regulate the NCC signaling pathway through NCC receptor molecule On-NCCRP-1. The results provide a more theoretical basis for understanding the regulation mechanism of NCC activity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis of Immune Response against Streptococcus agalactiae Infection in the Nile Tilapia GIFT Strain

and

Fishes 2022, 7(5), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7050246 - 20 Sep 2022

Viewed by 850

Abstract

Streptococcus agalactiae (group B streptococcus, GBS), a broad-spectrum pathogen, causes great economic losses in fish aquaculture, especially the industry of tilapia. Until now, the knowledge of the immune response mechanism against S. agalactiae infection in tilapia has been limited. In the present study, the gill transcriptome of the tilapia from the GBS and the phosphate buffered saline (PBS) groups were sequenced. The transcriptomic analysis results presented the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at different time points (DEGs number, 6 h: 2122, 9 h: 1851, 15 h: 1791, and 18 h: 2395) after GBS injection, and significantly enriched immune-related gene ontology (GO) terms such as the innate immune response. The significantly enriched immune pathways included the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, the nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling pathway, the cytosolic-DNA sensing pathway, and the intestinal immune network for Immunoglobulin A (IgA) production. Most of the DEGs in Toll-like receptor signaling, NOD-like receptor signaling, and cytosolic-DNA sensing pathways presented upregulations at 18 h, which indicated that the innate immune pathways were activated. Two immune-related pathways (phagosome and cell adhesion molecules) were significantly enriched at all time points, suggesting that these two pathways might also play important roles in the immune response against the GBS infection. The results of HE staining showed that the gills of tilapia were damaged seriously at 9 h post-infection, which might be due to the possibility of pyroptosis resulting from the changes of DEGs in the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. This study provided new insight into the mechanisms of gill damage in fish infected with S. agalactiae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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Open AccessArticle

Molecular Characterization and Expression Analysis of TAK1, TAB1 and TAB2 of Golden Pompano (Trachinotus ovatus)

and

Fishes 2022, 7(4), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7040173 - 18 Jul 2022

Viewed by 766

Abstract

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), TAK1-binding protein 1 (TAB1) and TAB2 are components of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. In this study, TAK1, TAB1 and TAB2 were characterized from golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus), a marine fish of great economic value, and named as trTAK1, trTAB1 and trTAB2, respectively. The lengths of the cDNA sequences of the three genes were 2429 bp, 2068 bp and 4229 bp and encoded 575, 506 and 759 amino acids, respectively. The trTAK1, trTAB1 and trTAB2 genes shared high sequence identities and were well clustered with their counterparts from other fish species. Real-time qPCR analysis showed that the three genes were constitutively expressed in all the selected tissues of healthy pompano, and the expression levels of the three genes were significantly up-regulated in head kidney and spleen following Vibrio alginolyticus, lipolysaccharide (LPS) and polyinosinic polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) challenge, indicating their roles in the immune response against pathogens in golden pompano. Our results provide a basis for further study of the functions of these genes in golden pompano. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study in Immune System and Disease of Fishes)

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