Wild striped bass Morone saxatilis in Chesapeake Bay are experiencing a high prevalence of mycobacteriosis, which produces granulomatous lesions of the skin and visceral organs. Culture-based studies have indicated that the newly described species Mycobacterium shottsii and M. pseudoshottsii are the dominant isolates from diseased fish. The classical fish pathogen M. marinum is also found, albeit at much lower frequencies. Both M. shottsii and M. pseudoshottsii are extremely slow-growing on standard selective media, and up to 12 months may be required for isolation and characterization. Epidemiological studies of mycobacteriosis in Chesapeake Bay would therefore benefit from rapid molecular assays with which to detect these species in fish. In this paper, we describe the development of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays capable of detecting M. shottsii, M. pseudoshottsii, and, in most instances, coinfections thereof in striped bass tissues. In addition, PCR-RFLP assays were designed to detect M. marinum and other as-yet-undescribed Mycobacterium spp. present in Chesapeake Bay striped bass. Comparison of these molecular assays with culture-based techniques using splenic tissue from wild striped bass yielded generally concordant results and demonstrated the applicability of these techniques to the study of wild fish.

中文翻译：

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用于检测肖氏分枝杆菌和 M 的巢式聚合酶链反应分析。条纹鲈鱼

切萨皮克湾的野生条纹鲈鱼 Morone saxatilis 正在经历分枝杆菌病的高流行，分枝杆菌病会导致皮肤和内脏器官的肉芽肿病变。基于培养的研究表明，新描述的 Shottsii 分枝杆菌和 M.pseudoshottsii 是患病鱼的主要分离株。还发现了经典的鱼类病原体 M. marinum，尽管频率低得多。M. shottsii 和 M. pseudoshottsii 在标准选择性培养基上生长极其缓慢，分离和表征可能需要长达 12 个月的时间。因此，切萨皮克湾分枝杆菌病的流行病学研究将受益于检测鱼类中这些物种的快速分子分析。在本文中，我们描述了聚合酶链反应限制性片段长度多态性 (PCR-RFLP) 检测的发展，该检测能够检测 M. shottsii、M.pseudoshottsii，以及在大多数情况下，它们在条纹鲈鱼组织中的共感染。此外，还设计了 PCR-RFLP 检测来检测海洋分枝杆菌和其他尚未描述的分枝杆菌属。存在于切萨皮克湾条纹鲈鱼。将这些分子测定与使用野生条纹鲈鱼脾组织的基于培养的技术进行比较，得出了普遍一致的结果，并证明了这些技术对野生鱼类研究的适用性。marinum 和其他尚未描述的分枝杆菌属。存在于切萨皮克湾条纹鲈鱼。将这些分子测定与使用野生条纹鲈鱼脾组织的基于培养的技术进行比较，得出了普遍一致的结果，并证明了这些技术对野生鱼类研究的适用性。marinum 和其他尚未描述的分枝杆菌属。存在于切萨皮克湾条纹鲈鱼。将这些分子测定与使用野生条纹鲈鱼脾组织的基于培养的技术进行比较，得出了普遍一致的结果，并证明了这些技术对野生鱼类研究的适用性。