ODFW photo
Detection of bacterial infection earlier in hatchery fish may help protect Oregon's salmon population
By Laura Hancock | Media and Publications Writer
University Advancement | lhancock@eou.edu
La Grande, Oregon – Dr. Anna Cavinato, professor of chemistry at Eastern Oregon University, received a $97,000 Oregon Sea Grant in September to aid in a collaborative research project that may help Oregon’s salmon population.
Her aim is to develop a non-lethal method to detect bacterial kidney disease (BKD) in salmon and trout. Oregon Sea Grant is headquartered in Corvallis at Oregon State University. There are 30 different Sea Grant programs operating under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that provide grant opportunities to researchers from colleges and universities across the country.
“BKD is a major problem in the Columbia Basin,” says Cavinato.
The present method used to detect the disease is called ELISA, (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), and identifies the presence of antigens in fish tissue as a consequence of the infection. Currently, this can only be determined after the fish has died of the disease or is killed for testing.
“I am very fortunate that I can direct my research to aid the ODFW."
— Dr. Anna Cavinato
Dr. Anne Greenlee, Oregon Health & Science University research scientist, Dr. Tim Hoffnagle, with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and researchers from the ODFW pathology lab, will work with Cavinato to find an applicable way of detecting the disease prior to the death of the fish.
Cavinato will use near-infrared spectroscopy to obtain a fingerprint of the chemical changes of an infected fish. She will use ELISA and Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), to validate the results of the non-lethal method.
Salmon will be sampled at the ODFW Lookingglass Fish Hatchery and a test group at the ODFW Wallowa Fish Hatchery will be infected with the disease and monitored. Using the near-infrared spectroscopy technology, Cavinato and the research team will establish a spectrum of what BKD looks like at the chemical level. The disease becomes visually apparent after the kidneys stop working and fluids begin to build up, causing the abdomen, eyes, and other extremities to swell.
Hoffnagle says that some salmon populations have developed a resistance to the infection. The disease is not always fatal, and it has not been determined how the fish survive the slow growing bacteria. Infected water spreads BKD from fish to fish, and female carriers pass the disease to their eggs.
ODFW photo
Eggs are collected during hatchery spawning.
“The disease is a real problem for hatcheries in eastern Oregon,” says Hoffnagle, who believes that BKD is more serious for hatcheries with smaller fish populations, particularly those raising salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Over the two-year research period the grant allows, the team should have a good idea as to whether or not the non-lethal method of identifying BKD will be effective in helping to control it.
The grant period begins in March of 2006. Funding for four undergraduate internships will also be available.
“I am very fortunate that I can direct my research to aid the ODFW,” says Cavinato, who was awarded her first Oregon Sea Grant in 2002.
Under the guidelines of the first grant, Cavinato was able to develop a short-wavelength near-infrared spectroscopy method to conduct non-invasive tests to determine the maturity status and gender of salmon. Now, Cavinato gets to put her technology to the test again as she pushes the limitations of the technique.
She credits the success of the grant proposal to the successful collaboration between a diverse group of researchers, each lending expertise from a different background.
“I could never have done this by myself.”
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