Date of Award

5-2003

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biochemistry

Advisor

Eric D. Anderson

Second Committee Member

Dorothy E. Croall

Third Committee Member

John T. Singer

Abstract

Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus is an emerging pathogen of fanned Atlantic salmon. Due to the massive economic losses inflicted by the ISA virus, effective measures to control future outbreaks are necessary. An attractive method for preventing ISA virus from infecting stocks of Atlantic salmon is vaccination. DNA vaccination is a proven cheap, effective means of protecting fish from aquatic viruses. In this thesis DNA vaccination of Atlantic salmon was investigated. Three different strains of ISA virus were cultured and purified by density gradient ultracentrifugation. ISA virus RNA was isolated and used to amplify full-length cDNAs of five ISA virus segments. These segments were cloned into hCMV vectors and recovered using an ammonium acetate precipitation reaction. DNA vaccines containing full-length ISA virus segments were used to vaccinate rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon. The DNA vaccines were tested for their ability to provide cross-protection, persistent immunity, and a humoral immune response. These vaccines were also compared to whole killed ISA virus vaccines and recombinant peptide vaccines derived from ISA virus surface proteins.

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