Introduction.
Fish viral and bacterial diseases cause substantial losses for the Norwegian aquaculture sector. While vaccination and selective breeding provide protection against many of these threats, there are still a number for which limited preventative measures are available including one causal agent of ulcerative skin disease, Tenacibaculum finnmarkense. The aim of study was to evaluate the effectiveness and mode of action of monovalent inactivated vaccines against T. finnmarkense in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
Methods
Three different vaccine regimes comprising both water-based immersion and oil- based IP vaccines were tested and immune system metrics assessed at various points in the vaccination process. Initial results demonstrated a specific IgM response against T. finnmarkense in all IP vaccinated fish and significant differences in mortality were observed between unvaccinated control fish and vaccinated fish, allowing us to select 100 representative head kidney and thymus samples from different timepoints of our best vaccination group.
Results
The transcriptomic data has allowed us to characterise the immune and transcriptional response of Atlantic salmon against this T. finnmarkense vaccine, as well as the acute stress response of a placebo vaccination, and to identify biomarkers associated with this response. Additionally, we have identified several diferentially expressed genes which can be used in the future as potential disease biomarkers.