Development of a gene transfer system for curing of plasmids in the marine fish pathogen Vibrio salmonicida

All reported natural isolates of the marine fish pathogen Vibrio salmonicida contain plasmids, and in another marine fish pathogen, Vibrio anguillarum, it has been shown that a plasmid is important for expression of virulence by the organism. To study the function of the plasmids in V. salmonicida, we developed a gene transfer system based on the plasmid RSF1010 replicon. The gene transfer system was used to construct a plasmid-free strain, and this strain was found to behave similarly to the wild type in a fish pathogenicity test based on intraperitoneal injection of the bacteria. We were unable to detect any other phenotypic differences between the two strains. It could therefore be concluded that at least in the V. salmonicida strain tested, extrachromosomal DNA is not required for expression of virulence.