Infectious salmon anaemia virus, ISA virus (genus Isavirus, family Orthomyxoviridae), emerged in Norwegian salmon culture in the mid-80s. The genome consists of eight segments coding for at least 10 proteins. ISA viruses show many of similarities to influenza A viruses but differ in many important aspects such as the number of hosts, the host population structure and the route of transmission. The only known hosts and reservoirs for ISA viruses are salmonids found in countries surrounding the North Atlantic. In this study, four different segments of the genome of about 100 ISA viruses have been sequenced in an attempt to understand the evolution of ISA viruses and how these viruses are maintained in and transmitted between populations of farmed Atlantic salmon. The four gene segments code for the nucleoprotein (NP), the putative acid polymerase (PA), the fusion protein (F) and the haemagglutinin-esterase (HE). Analysis of these four genes showed that the substitution rates of the internal proteins (NP and PA) are lower than those of the two surface proteins (F and HE). All four segments are evolving at a lower rate than similar genes in influenza A viruses. The ISA virus populations consist of avirulent viruses and pathogenic strains with variable virulence in Atlantic salmon. Recombination resulting in inserts close to the proteolytic-cleavage site of the precursor F0 protein and deletions in the stalk region of the HE protein seem to be responsible for the transition from avirulent ISA viruses to pathogenic strains. It is also shown that reassortment is a frequent event among the dominating ISA viruses in farmed Atlantic salmon. The pattern that is obtained after phylogenetic analysis of the four gene segments from ISA viruses suggests that the variation is limited to a few distinct clades and that no major changes have occurred in the ISA virus population in Norway since the first viruses were isolated. Calculation of the time of most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) suggests that the Norwegian ISA viruses separated from the European subtype found in North America between 1932 and 1959. The TMRCA data also suggest that the ISA viruses in Chile were transmitted from Norway in the period from 1995 to 2007, depending on which of the four genes were used in the analysis.

Mouthrot, or bacterial stomatitis, is a disease which mainly affects farmed Atlantic salmon, (Salmo salar, L.), smolts recently transferred into salt water in both British Columbia (BC), Canada, and Washington State, USA. It is a significant fish welfare issue which results in economic losses due to mortality and antibiotic treatments. The associated pathogen is Tenacibaculum maritimum, a bacterium which causes significant losses in many species of farmed fish worldwide. This bacterium has not been proven to be the causative agent of mouthrot in BC despite being isolated from affected Atlantic salmon. In this study, challenge experiments were performed to determine whether mouthrot could be induced with T. maritimum isolates collected from outbreaks in Western Canada and to attempt to develop a bath challenge model. A secondary objective was to use this model to test inactivated whole-cell vaccines for T. maritimum in Atlantic salmon smolts. This study shows that T. maritimum is the causative agent of mouthrot and that the bacteria can readily transfer horizontally within the population. Although the whole-cell oil-adjuvanted vaccines produced an antibody response that was partially cross-reactive with several of the T. maritimum isolates, the vaccines did not protect the fish under the study's conditions.

The Norwegian aquaculture of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is hampered by ulcerative disorders associated with bacterial infections. Chronic ulceration may provide microenvironments that disturb the normal microbial biodiversity of external surfaces. Studying the composition of microbial communities in skin ulcers will enhance our understanding of ulcer aetiology. To achieve this, we tested marine farmed Atlantic salmon and sampled the base and edge of ulcers at the end of winter (April) and end of summer (September), in addition to skin mucus of healthy individuals. In order to assess microbiota associated with the host and obtain insight into the environmental ecology, we also sampled sea water, the sediment layer underneath the farm facility and the distal intestine of Atlantic salmon. The skin microbiota of Atlantic salmon was different from that of the surrounding water. Residential Tenacibaculum and Arcobacter species persistently dominated the cutaneous skin and ulcer mucus surfaces of Atlantic salmon during both winter and summer periods. The intestinal microbiota was dominated by Mycoplasma with an increase in Aliivibrio and Alcaligenes abundance in the intestine of fish with ulcerative disorder at the end of winter. These findings suggest the presence of resilient microbes in the mucus surfaces of Atlantic salmon.

A novel Gram-stain negative, aerobic, non-flagellated, rod-shaped gliding bacterial strain, designated HFJT, was isolated from a skin lesion of a diseased Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in Finnmark, Norway. Colonies were observed to be yellow pigmented with entire and/or undulating margins and did not adhere to the agar. The 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the strain belongs to the genus Tenacibaculum (family Flavobacteriaceae, phylum ‘Bacteroidetes’). Strain HFJT exhibits high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values to Tenacibaculum dicentrarchi NCIMB 14598T (97.2 %). The strain was found to grow at 2–20 °C and only in the presence of sea salts. The respiratory quinone was identified as menaquinone 6 and the major fatty acids were identified as summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1 ω7c and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH), iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 and iso-C15:0 3-OH. The DNA G+C content was determined to be 34.1 mol%. DNA–DNA hybridization and comparative phenotypic and genetic tests were performed with the phylogenetically closely related type strains, T. dicentrarchi NCIMB 14598T and Tenacibaculumovolyticum NCIMB 13127T. These data, as well as phylogenetic analyses, suggest that strain HFJT should be classified as a representative of a novel species in the genus Tenacibaculum, for which the name Tenacibaculum finnmarkense sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is HFJ T = (DSM 28541T = NCIMB 42386T).

Aims: In 2005, a Francisella sp. was isolated from diseased cultured giant abalone (Haliotis gigantea) in Japan. The aim of this study was to clarify the taxonomic status of this Francisella sp. Shimane-1 isolate in relation to the four described Francisella species. Methods and Results: The 16S rRNA gene and several housekeeping genes of the Shimane-1 were compared to isolates of the four recognized species within the Francisella genus. DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) and biochemical profile comparison were performed with the two phylogenetically closely related species, Francisella philomiragia and Francisella noatunensis. Results show that the Shimane-1 is genetically different from all described Francisella species and differs phenotypically from F. philomiragia and F. noatunensis. The average DDH similarity of Francisella sp. Shimane-1 to F. noatunensis ssp. noatunensis