Phage Therapy for Control of Bacterial Fish Diseases

Antibiotics are widely used in the treatment of bacterial fish diseases. Bacteria have been resistant to the antibiotics used and antibiotics have became ineffective over time. In recent years, alternative treatment options have been sought to solve this problem. The use of bacteriophages, known as viruses that infect bacteria, as an alternative to antibiotics may be a promising strategy for the biologicalcontrol of bacterial pathogens in aquaculture. The antibacterial efficacy of bacteriophages, which have an ancient history and are known as the forgotten source of healing, will be investigated with this project. In this project, lithic phages were isolated from the aquaculture environment, enriched, purified and investigated for their effectiveness against Aeromonas hydrophila, which is important fish pathogens in vitro. The active bacteriophages were also characterized and genetically identified. When the project is successfully completed, the phages could be used as biological control in the treatment of bacterial fish diseases in aquaculture. Thus, environmental pollution and antibiotic resistance could be mitigiated and the financial lost could be prevented by reducing antibiotic usage.

抗生素被广泛应用于细菌性鱼类疾病的治疗。随着时间推移，细菌对所使用的抗生素产生耐药性，导致抗生素逐渐失效。近年来，研究人员一直在寻求可解决该问题的替代治疗方案。作为抗生素替代品的噬菌体（bacteriophages，即侵染细菌的病毒），有望成为水产养殖中细菌性致病菌生物防控（biological control）的极具前景的策略。本项目将针对这类拥有悠久历史、被称为“被遗忘的治愈之源”的噬菌体的抗菌功效展开探究。具体而言，本项目将从水产养殖环境中分离裂解性噬菌体（lithic phages），并对其进行富集、纯化，随后在体外环境中探究其对作为重要鱼类致病菌的嗜水气单胞菌（Aeromonas hydrophila）的抑制效果；同时，还将对具有活性的噬菌体进行特性表征与基因层面的鉴定。若本项目顺利完成，这些噬菌体可被应用于水产养殖细菌性鱼类疾病的生物防控治疗。由此，通过减少抗生素使用量，可缓解环境污染与抗生素耐药性问题，并避免因抗生素不合理使用造成的经济损失。