In situ hybridization: A detection tool for fish pathogens and its application on recent advances on whirling disease research

Abstract

A non-radioactive in situ hybridization (ISH) protocol was used as a diagnostic tool for several fish pathogens including Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis, the etiologic agent of withering syndrome, which is a new disease in wild and cultured abalone Haliotis spp., the microsporidian Nucleospora salmonis and the myxozoan parasite Tetracapsula bryosalmonae (previously referred to as PKX) that causes proliferative kidney disease in salmonids. Most applications of the ISH protocol in our -laboratory were used in pathogenesis studies of whirling disease caused by the myxosporean Myxobolus cerebralis.