Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae Infection in Marine Fishes - A Review

Abstract

Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae is a bacterial disease affecting wild and cage culture fishes. Its etiological agent, the gram negative bacterium Photobacterium damselae subsp. damsela, is responsible for important economic losses in cultured fish worldwide. It has been isolated from epizootic outbreaks affecting several cultured fish species especially Gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata and European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax and new cultured marine fish species. Moreover, this pathogen has been reported to cause diseases in human, and for this reason, it may be considered as zoonotic pathogen. Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae is a facultative anaerobic, Gram negative rod, weakly motile. Furthermore, molecular methods represent an improvement over classical microbiological techniques for the identification of P. damselae subsp. damselae and the diagnosis of the disease. The complete sequencing, annotation, and analysis of the pathogen genome will provide insights into the pathogen laying the groundwork for the development of vaccines and diagnostic methods.