Comparative genomic assessment of members of genus Tenacibaculum: an exploratory study

• Published in: Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG Vol. 298; no. 5; pp. 979 - 993
• Main Authors: Satyam, Rohit, Ahmad, Shaban, Raza, Khalid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.09.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Anorexia; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; CRISPR; Disease; Disease transmission; Drug resistance; Evolution; Fish; Fish Diseases - microbiology; Fishes; Flavobacteriaceae Infections - genetics; Flavobacteriaceae Infections - microbiology; Genes; Genetics; Genomes; Genomics; Human Genetics; Infections; Life Sciences; Metadata; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Mortality; Operons; Original Article; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Reclassification; Salmon; Skin diseases; Sortase; Tenacibaculum; Tenacibaculum - genetics; Virulence; Tandem repeats; Tenacibaculosis; Atlantic salmon; Antimicrobial resistance; Sortase
• ISSN: 1617-4615; 1617-4623
• DOI: 10.1007/s00438-023-02031-3

Tenacibaculosis is an ulcerative skin disorder that affects finfish. It is caused by members of the genus Tenacibaculum , resulting in eccentric behavioural changes, including anorexia, lethargy, and abnormal swimming patterns that often result in mortality. Currently, species suspected of causing fish mortality include T. ovolyticum , T. gallaicum , T. discolor , T. finnmarkense , T. mesophilum , T. soleae , T. dicentrarchi , and T. maritimum . However, pathogenic members and the mechanisms involved in disease causation, progression, and transmission are limited due to the inadequate sequencing efforts in the past decade. In this study, we use a comparative genomics approach to investigate the characteristic features of 26 publicly available genomes of Tenacibaculum and report our observations. We propose the reclassification of “ T. litoreum HSC 22” to the s ingaporense species and assignment of “T. sp. 4G03 ” to the species discolor (species with quotation marks have not been appropriately named). We also report the co-occurrence of several antimicrobial resistance/virulence genes and genes private to a few members. Finally, we mine several non-B DNA forming regions, operons, tandem repeats, high-confidence putative effector proteins, and sortase that might play a pivotal role in bacterial evolution, transcription, and pathogenesis.