The first report of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia in farmed rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), in the United Kingdom

Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) was diagnosed in rainbow trout in the UK in May 2006. VHS virus (VHSV) was isolated from fingerlings showing typical histopathological lesions at a single rainbow trout farm site experiencing high mortality. The virus was confirmed as VHSV by serological and molecular biological tests. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete glycoprotein gene sequence revealed that the isolate was closely related (99% nucleotide identity) to several Danish isolates from 1991 to 2000 and was assigned to VHSV genogroup Ia. The pathogenicity of the isolate was determined in infection experiments using rainbow trout fry. Following waterborne challenge, cumulative mortalities reached 96.67-100% by 12 days post-infection. This represents the first isolation of a pathogenic freshwater VHSV in the UK.

Identification of the 5-iodoacetamidofluorescein reporter site on the Na,K-ATPase

5-Iodoacetamidofluorescein (5-IAF) labels the catalytic (alpha) subunit of dog kidney Na,K-ATPase without inhibiting enzymatic activity and is thus a useful fluorescent reporter of enzyme conformation under conditions of enzyme turnover. In this study conditions for labeling a unique sulfhydryl group are described, and this residue is identified in the cDNA-derived sequence. Reaction with iodoacetate (IAA) prior to fluorescent labeling lowers the stoichiometry of 5-IAF incorporation from 2.1 to 1.2 mol/mol alpha beta protomer, and increases the conformationally dependent fluorescence changes by 40-50%, consistent with the elimination of nonspecific labeling. IAA/IAF-enzyme has the same catalytic activity as the IAF-enzyme. In contrast, treatment with iodoacetamide prior to labeling with 5-IAF abolishes all fluorescence responses, although activity is retained. IAA/IAF-enzyme was digested by extensive trypsinolysis, and the fluorescent peptides released from the membrane were purified by high performance liquid chromatography and sequenced. Several fluorescent peptides were found, containing all or part of the sequence Cys-Ile-Glu-Leu-Cys-Cys-Gly-Ser-Val-Lys, corresponding to residues 452-461 in the sheep alpha subunit. The major site of modification is the second of the vicinal cysteine residues, Cys-457. Phenylarsine oxide, a reagent specific for vicinal sulfhydryl groups, prevents fluorophore incorporation, thereby confirming the identification of the IAF site from the sequence data.

Accessibility of tryptophan residues in Na,K-ATPase

The accessibility of the tryptophans in dog kidney Na,K-ATPase was studied with the technique of quenching by acrylamide. By use of a modified Stern-Volmer equation, fa, the effective fraction of tryptophans most exposed to quencher, and Ka, the effective quenching constant, were calculated. The direct Stern-Volmer plots are nonlinear under nondenaturing conditions, indicating that the tryptophan residues are unequally accessible to quencher. Modified Stern-Volmer plots revealed marked differences in the exposure of tryptophans in the E1 and E2 states. In the presence of Na or ADP, ligands that stabilize E1, these plots curve downward, indicating that the in addition to buried (unquenched) tryptophans, there is a heterogeneous class of tryptophans. In the presence of K or ouabain, conditions that favor E2, the modified Stern-Volmer plots are linear, consistent with a homogeneous population of tryptophans. Treatment with chymotrypsin to block the E1 to E2 transition results in a new set of quenching parameters which are unchanged with Na or K. Even after detergent denaturation (1% sodium dodecyl sulfate for 30 min), Stern-Volmer plots are nonlinear, and a significant fraction of tryptophan residues remain inaccessible to quencher. Denaturation with urea or guanidine HCl plus dithiothreitol increases the fraction of quenchable fluorescence even more, but still a small fraction, about 7-13%, is buried. The observed changes in exposure of the tryptophan residues would seem to account for the differences in intrinsic fluorescence seen on adding K and Na to Na,K-ATPase. The present results provide new evidence that a significant rearrangement of amino acid residues results from the E1 to E2 transition. Furthermore, a region of the molecule is inaccessible even after denaturation; this may correspond to highly hydrophobic stretches that are normally buried in the membrane.