DEROME LABORATORY - News

New Publication in Front. Microbiol.

12/20/2017

Image: Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Strong Genomic and Phenotypic Heterogeneity in the Aeromonas sobria Species Complex
Jeff Gauthier, Antony T. Vincent, Steve J. Charette and Nicolas Derome
Front. Microbiol., 08 December 2017

Aeromonas sobria is a mesophilic motile aeromonad for which, despite increasing evidence of mutualistic interactions in salmonid fish, the determinants of its host-microbe associations remain poorly understood. The ongoing confusion between A. sobria (sensu stricto) and A. veronii bv. sobria further increases this knowledge gap.

In this new publication, we assessed the genomic and phenotypic heterogeneity among five A. sobria strains. Two clinical isolates recovered from infected fish (JF2635 and CECT 4245), one from an infected amphibian (08005) and two recently isolated brook charr probionts (TM12 and TM18) which inhibit in vitro growth of A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida (a salmonid fish pathogen).

[To read the article click here]

New Publication in Frontiers

7/18/2017

Image: NOAA // CC BY-SA

Walleye Autochthonous Bacteria as Promising Probiotic Candidates against Flavobacterium columnare
Hamza Seghouani, Carlos Enrique Garcia Rangel, Jérémie Füller, Jeff Gauthier and Nicolas Derome
Frontiers in Microbiology / Aquatic Microbiology, 18 July 2017

In this publication, we report two novel Pseudomonas fluorescens strains isolated from the walleye gut microbiota. Those two strains improved by 54% the survival of walleye juveniles infected by Flavobacterium columnare, a major opportunistic pathogen of walleye and salmonid fish.

(To view this article, click on the title above.)

New Publication in Scientific Reports

7/17/2017

Image: Magnus Manske // CC-BY 2.0 (2008)

Vertically and horizontally transmitted microbial symbionts shape the gut microbiota ontogenesis of a skin-mucus feeding discus fish progeny
Scientific Reports 7:5263 (2017)

This new publication, authored by François-Étienne Sylvain and Nicolas Derome, discusses the gut microbiota acquisition patterns in the Discus fish, which display a unique parenting behaviour by feeding their fry off their own skin mucus in the early life stages.

To read this article, click the link below:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05662-w

Omega-3, Microbiota and Cancer - New MSc Position

5/23/2017

SUBMISSION DEADLINE : June 30th, 2017 -- The is a new opening for a MSc (Master's) position in our research group. The candidate will study the impact of anti-Inflammatory Omega-3 supplementation on gut microbiota in healthy and prostate cancer patients.

Relevant background in molecular biology (with related laboratory experience) and bioinformatics are required.

For more information, please click the link below :

MSc : Omega-3 & Gut Microbiota

This MSc project is part of a Prostate Cancer Canada research project (Movember Discovery Grants 2016 D2016-1336) leaded by Dr Vincent Fradet (CHUQ).

New PhD Opportunities @ Derome Lab

2/20/2017

NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: May 31st, 2017 -- The Derome Laboratory has an exceptional opportunity available for two PhD students to join our research team, in the context of the Sentinel North program (https://www.ulaval.ca/en/sentinel-north.html). Sentinel North aims to help us monitor and prepare for changes in northern environments using state-of-the-art technologies and intervention strategies in the pursuit of sustainable health and development.

PhD #1 Arctic Char Microbiota Project

PhD #2 Zebrafish-Microbiota Model

To apply, please forward a current CV, a cover letter and two support letters via e-mail to Nicolas DEROME (nicolas.derome@bio.ulaval.ca) by May 31, 2017.

-- Learn more about the Sentinel North Research Strategy below --

Northern ecosystems are facing unprecedented assaults resulting from direct (e.g. industrial activities, such as mining and hydroelectricity) and indirect (global warming) anthropogenic activities, thus amplifying the risk of disturbing essential ecosystem services mediated by microbial communities (nitrogen cycle, primary production) and contaminate the whole food web. Because gut microbiota is critically implicated in modulating the host response to contaminants and toxins, such bio-accumulated contaminants (e.g. iron, mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, arsenic and manganese) are expected to have serious consequences on major host functions such as immune response, energetic performance and development. Furthermore, there are enough results suggesting that climate change could alter stages and rates of development of endemic pathogens, modify host resistance, and result in changes in the physiology of host-pathogen interactions. Because microbiota constitutes the first immune barrier by both producing specific antimicrobial compounds and outcompete invasive microbes for host resources, it is crucial to develop a sentinel model for studying skin and gut microbiota resilience when facing allochthonous pathogens in controlled conditions.

Come see us @ RAQ Quebec 2016

11/17/2016

We will give talks and poster presentations at the 2016 General Meeting of Ressources Aquatiques Quebec, the largest group of Quebec researchers in fisheries and aquaculture. The meeting will be held on Nov. 22nd and 23rd at Hotel Quartier, Quebec City.

Bachar Cheaib Experimental evolution of the yellow perch microbiome under sublethal exposure to heavy metals. (Poster)
Hamza Seghouani Endogenous bacteria from walleye (Sander vitreus), with probiotic potential against Flavobacterium columnare. (Poster)
François-Étienne Sylvain You are what you eat : get mature faster by foraging on your parents, the discus fish example. (Poster)
Jeff Gauthier Probiotic-based therapeutic tools against Aeromonas salmonicida, a major salmonid pathogen. (Talk; Nov. 23rd @ 2h30 PM).

Team Highlights - François-Étienne Sylvain

8/30/2016

François-Étienne Sylvain, M.Sc. student in our laboratory, won two awards at the 16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology:

Best Poster Award;
JW Costerton Award (for research that best evolves new theories in microbial ecology and wider interdisciplinary significance).

F-E's poster discussed the unique properties of the Discus fish (Symphysodon aequifasciatus), in which the skin mucus feeding behavior at the beginning of their life cycle triggers mammalian-like gut microbiota colonization patterns.

Congratulations F-É !

Team Highlights - Camille Lavoie

8/30/2016

Source: FQSA.ca

The 2016 Pierre-Michel-Fontaine scholarship ($1000) from the Fondation Saumon and the Féderation Québécoise du Saumon Atlantique was awarded to Camille Lavoie, an student from our research group, for her undergraduate research project on the microbiota of farmed juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) meant for stocking.

For more information about Camille's award and her research, please click here (French).

Congratulations Camille !

New Publication

8/18/2016

The amazonian fish tambaqui (Colossoma macroponum) can survive in waters where pH values are as low as 3. Image: Wikimedia Commons // CC-BY-SA 3.0

.Our research group and colleagues from the INPA (Brazil) recently published an article in Scientific Reports:

"pH drop impacts differentially skin and gut microbiota of the Amazonian fish tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum)"
Authors: François-Étienne Sylvain, Bachar Cheaib, Martin Llewellyn, Tiago Gabriel Correia, Daniel Barros Fagundes, Adalberto Luis Val & Nicolas Derome.

Congratulations to all !

New References on Opportunistic Pathogens of Fish

7/31/2016

Two review chapters authored by our team and colleagues were recently published in Volume 3 of the Advances in Environmental Microbiology series, which is dedicated to opportunistic pathogenicity :

Chapter 4: Bacterial Opportunistic Pathogens of Fish;
Chapter 5: Fungal Secondary Invaders of Fish;

In those chapters, the current knowledge of bacterial and fungal opportunistic diseases in fish is discussed, with prime examples of opportunistic pathogens of special interest in aquaculture (Aeromonas spp., Vibrio spp., Saprolegnia spp., Loma salmonae, etc.).

In both chapters, we stress the importance of studying crosstalks between host, microbiota and environmental factors; not only for a better understanding of opportunistic pathogens, but also to help developing novel strategies for mitigating those diseases.