Adhesion of Tenacibaculum sp to short-spined sea urchin Strongylocentroutus intermedius and control of spotting disease by inhibiting adhesion using carbohydrate

We examined the adhesion of Tenacibaculum sp., the causative bacterium of spotting disease of short-spined sea urchin Stronglycentroutus intermedius, to the host. The number of adhesive cells of Tenacibaculum sp. strain F-2 isolated from diseased sea urchin was about 30 times more than those of two stains of non-pathogenic marine Cytophaga. sp. isolated from healthy sea urchins. The adhesion of Tenacibaculum sp. F-2 to the sea urchins was inhibited by about 90% when the sea urchins were pre-treated with 0.1% D-galactose or D-xylose for 1h. With this treatment, all sea urchins remained asymptomatic and were still alive at 7 1h day after being immersed with 10(6) or 10(7) CFU/mL Tenacibaculum sp. F-2 for 1 h at 23 degrees C, while mortality of control reached 100%. These results indicate that carbohydrate treatment of the sea urchin is useful to control the disease.