PROGRAM INTRODUCTION

SCOPE - The fish disease research program at the Western Fisheries Research Center (WFRC) focuses principally on the two most important viral diseases of salmonid fish, infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) and viral hemorrhagic

Juvenile chinook salmon with bacterial kidney disease.

septicemia (VHS), caused by the highly pathogenic rhabdoviruses, IHNV and VHSV, upon bacterial kidney disease (BKD), the most significant bacterial disease of Pacific salmon, caused by the slow-growing, gram-positive bacterium, Renibacterium salmoninarum, and upon whirling disease (WD) in rainbow trout caused by the introduced protozoan pathogen, Myxobolus cerebralis.

The kidney disease bacterium can be detected in fish tissues by the fluourescent antibody test.

APPROACH - The research in fish disease includes both basic and applied science with projects generally falling into one of the three following areas: 1) development of more rapid and sensitive methods for detection of the causative agent and for diagnosis of disease, 2) an improved understanding of the epidemiological features of the disease including identification of strains and critical elements in the host-pathogen interaction, and 3) development of novel methods to control losses from fish diseases. A strong feature of the laboratory is the application of molecular biology to these areas including: construction of genomic libraries, cloning, automated sequencing, phylogenetic analysis, the polymerase chain reaction, random-amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting, ribonuclease protection assays, DNA probes, monoclonal antibodies, in situ histochemistry, recombinant DNA expression systems, synthetic peptides, and genetic immunization.

FACILITIES - The WFRC represents a state-of-the-art center for work on infectious diseases of fish that includes over 16,000 square feet of laboratory space for cell culture, virology, bacteriology, immunology, histology, parasitology, and molecular biology. The facility also houses a 9,000 square foot wet laboratory containing more than 300 tanks of various sizes, supplied with temperature-controlled, pathogen-free fresh water. The laboratory effluent is treated with chlorine gas. Within the dry lab is a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory containing dry and wet laboratories for work with exotic fish pathogens. Also in the dry lab are a walk-in cold laboratory, walk-in cold storage, fluorescent microscopy rooms, a common computer room, darkrooms for autoradiography and gel photography, and an animal care facility meeting NIH guidelines. The laboratory is equipped with ultracentrifuges, refrigerated centrifuges, refrigerated microfuges, PCR machines including an ABI 7900 sequence detection system, automated DNA sequencer, peptide synthesizer, DNA synthesizer, pulsed-field, protein, and nucleic acid electrophoresis equipment, spectrophotometers, luminometer, fluorometer, scintillation counter, chemical fume and laminar

A toolbox of immunological assays is used to monitor the defenses of fish infected with the kidney disease bacterium.

flow hoods, ultrafreezers, research microscopes, networked and stand-alone computers with internet and both DNA and image analysis capabilities, and other large and small equipment common to microbiology and molecular biology laboratories. The WFRC marine field station at Marrowstone Island is also equipped with dry and wet laboratory facilities where fish disease research can be safely conducted using high-quality, temperature-controlled, pathogen-free seawater supplied to several hundred aquaria of various sizes.

FUNDING - The fish disease research team is supported by a combination of base funds from the U.S. Department of Interior and by grants or contracts obtained by competitive peer-review. Project leaders and permanent technical staff are typically supported by base funds, while grants or contracts support temporary technical staff or post-doctoral researchers and graduate students from the University of Washington where several principal investigators have faculty appointments in various departments.

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