Antibody specificities in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., against the fish pathogens Vibrio salmonicida and Vibrio anguillarum

Specificities of polyclonal salmon antisera made against the fish pathogens Vibrio salmonicida and Vibrio anguillarum were studied. Using ELISA and Western blot techniques, antisera made against V. salmonicida or V. anguillarum serovar 1 demonstrated high responses against the homologous bacterium or its isolated LPS. In contrast, antisera obtained after immunization with V. anguillarum serovar 2 displayed low antibody titres against homologous antigens. Elcctrophoretic transfer of SDS‐PAGE separated V. salmonicida LPS antigen to nitrocellulose strips and subsequent immunostaining with salmon antisera revealed a strong reaction exclusively in the low molecular weight region (<14kD). On the other hand, immunoblots of V. anguillarum LPS preparations using salmon immunesera raised against this species showed a heterogenous staining pattern ranging from high to medium LPS‐size. In addition, most of the salmon antisera made against V. anguillarum serovar 2 also reacted with a low molecular weight LPS antigen band.