The Malaysian and global shrimp aquaculture production has been significantly impacted by acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) typically caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus harboring the pVA plasmid containing the pirAVp and pirBVp genes, which code for Photorhabdus insect-related (Pir) toxin. The limited genomic resource for V. parahaemolyticus strains from Malaysian aquaculture farms precludes an in-depth understanding of their diversity and evolutionary relationships. In this study, we isolated shrimp-associated and environmental (rearing water) V. parahaemolyticus from three aquaculture farms located in Northern and Central Malaysia followed by whole-genome sequencing of 40 randomly selected isolates on the Illumina MiSeq. Phylogenomic analysis and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) reveal distinct lineages of V. parahaemolyticus that harbor the pirABVp genes. The recovery of pVA plasmid backbone devoid of pirAVp or pirABVp in some V. parahaemolyticus isolates suggests that the toxin genes are prone to deletion. The new insight gained from phylogenomic analysis of Asian V. parahaemolyticus, in addition to the observed genomic instability of pVa plasmid, will have implications for improvements in aquaculture practices to diagnose, treat or limit the impacts of this disease.
21The Malaysian and global shrimp aquaculture production has been significantly impacted by 22 acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) typically caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus 23 harboring the pVA plasmid containing the pirA and pirB genes which code for Photorhabdus 24 insect-related (Pir) toxin. The limited genomic resource for V. parahaemolyticus strains from 25Malaysian aquaculture farms precludes an in-depth understanding of their diversity and 26 evolutionary relationships. In this study, we isolated shrimp-associated and environmental 27 (rearing water) V. parahaemolyticus from three aquaculture farms located in Northern and 28 Central Malaysia followed by whole-genome sequencing of 40 randomly selected isolates on the 29 Illumina MiSeq. Phylogenomic analysis and multi locus sequence typing (MLST) reveal distinct 30 lineages of V. parahaemolyticus that harbor the pirAB genes. The recovery of pVA plasmid 31 backbone devoid of pirA or pirAB in some V. parahaemolyticus isolates suggests that the toxin 32 genes are prone to deletion. The new insight gained from phylogenomic analysis of Asian V. 33 parahaemolyticus in addition to the observed genomic instability of pVa plasmid will have 34 implications for improvements in aquaculture practices to diagnose, treat or limit the impacts of 35 this disease. 36 37
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.