SBIR Phase I: Molecular diagnostics and biological control of disease in farmed channel catfish

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目的是开发一种有效、廉价、安全的方法来控制养殖的叉尾鱼的传染病。一个综合的检测和控制系统针对的是Edwardsiella ictaluri，这是养殖鲶鱼中成本最高的病原体。检测是基于对病原体基因的快速、简单的测试。控制是基于自然产生的病毒和细菌。这些技术共同构成了一个综合系统，可以更安全、更经济、更特异地快速、廉价地检测和治疗叉尾鱼。这种方法通常适用于影响广泛养殖鱼类的病原体。由于大多数鱼类物种的商业野生捕捞被证明是不可持续的，养殖鱼类作为一种食物来源和重要产业越来越重要，通常在美国和世界其他不发达地区。发展这一产业的一个主要障碍是传染性疾病，这是由于鱼类密度异常高，导致全球价值数十亿美元的鱼类损失高达一半。目前还没有令人满意的方法来控制这些疫情。包括抗生素、疫苗、化学品或控制饲养在内的替代品价格昂贵，对人类和环境健康有害，和/或不利于产量。这项提案的当务之急是解决2000至3000万美元的损失，并承诺提高美国东南部农村地区的一项重要收入来源的生存能力。从长远来看，这种方法将适用于美国和世界各地的其他鱼类物种。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing an effective, inexpensive, safe means of controlling infectious diseases among farmed catfish. An integrated system of detection and control is targeted at Edwardsiella ictaluri, the most costly pathogen among farmed catfish. Detection is based on rapid, simple tests for pathogen genes. Control is based on naturally occurring viruses and bacteria. Together these technologies comprise an integrated system for rapidly and inexpensively detecting and treating catfish more safely, inexpensively and specifically. This approach is generally applicable to pathogens affecting a wide range of farmed fish.As commercial wild harvest of most fish species is proving unsustainable, farmed fish are increasingly significant as a food source and an important industry, often in underdeveloped parts of US and the rest of the world. A major impediment to developing this industry is infectious disease due to unnaturally high densities of fish that cause losses of up to half of the fish worth billions of dollars worldwide. There is currently no satisfactory means of controlling these outbreaks. Alternatives including antibiotics, vaccines, chemicals or controlled feeding are either expensive, harmful to human and environmental health and/or detrimental to yields. The immediate focus of this proposal, Enteric Septicemia of Catfish due to Edwardsiella ictaluri, addresses the $20-30M in losses and promises to improve the viability of an important source of income to the rural southeastern US. Longer term, this approach will be applied to other fish species throughout the US and the world.