The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinters, distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major subsystems of the immune system. The innate immune system provides a preconfigured response to broad groups of situations and stimuli. The adaptive immune system provides a tailored response to each stimulus by learning to recognize molecules it has previously encountered. Both use molecules and cells to perform their functions.
Koi, or more specifically nishikigoi, are colored varieties of the Amur carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future.
A carp is an oily freshwater fish from various species of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of Africa, Australia and most of the United States.
The Eurasian carp or European carp, widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia. The native wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the species has also been domesticated and introduced into environments worldwide, and is often considered a destructive invasive species, being included in the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. It gives its name to the carp family, Cyprinidae.
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, often termed "Ich", is a parasitic ciliate described by the French parasitologist Fouquet in 1876. Only one species is found in the genus which also gave name to the family. The name literally translates as "the fish louse with many children". The parasite can infect most freshwater fish species and, in contrast to many other parasites, shows very low host specificity. It penetrates gill epithelia, skin and fins of the fish host and resides as a feeding stage inside the epidermis. It is visible as a white spot on the surface of the fish but, due to its internal microhabitat, it is a true endoparasite and not an ectoparasite.
Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae is a myxozoan parasite of salmonid fish. It is the only species currently recognized in the monotypic genus Tetracapsuloides. It is the cause of proliferative kidney disease (PKD), one of the most serious parasitic diseases of salmonid populations in Europe and North America that can result in losses of up to 90% in infected populations.
Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL15 gene. IL-15 is an inflammatory cytokine with structural similarity to Interleukin-2 (IL-2). Like IL-2, IL-15 binds to and signals through a complex composed of IL-2/IL-15 receptor beta chain (CD122) and the common gamma chain. IL-15 is secreted by mononuclear phagocytes following infection by virus(es). This cytokine induces the proliferation of natural killer cells, i.e. cells of the innate immune system whose principal role is to kill virally infected cells.
In immunology, an adjuvant is a substance that increases or modulates the immune response to a vaccine. The word "adjuvant" comes from the Latin word adiuvare, meaning to help or aid. "An immunologic adjuvant is defined as any substance that acts to accelerate, prolong, or enhance antigen-specific immune responses when used in combination with specific vaccine antigens."
Levan is a naturally occurring fructan present in many plants and microorganisms. This polymer is made up of fructose, a monosaccharide sugar, connected by 2,6 beta glycosidic linkages. Levan can have both branched and linear structures of relatively low molecular weight. Branched levan forms a very small, sphere-like structure with basal chains 9 units long. The 2,1 branching allows methyl ethers to form and create a spherical shape. The ends of levan also tend to contain a glucosyl residue. Branched levan tends to be more stable than the linear structure. However, the amount of branching and length of polymerization tends to vary among different species. The shortest levan is 6-kestose, a chain of two fructose molecules and a terminal glucose molecule.
Teleost leptins are a family of peptide hormones found in fish (teleostei) that are orthologs of the mammalian hormone leptin. The teleost and mammalian leptins appear to have similar functions, namely, regulation of energy intake and expenditure.
The bZIP intron RNA motif is an RNA structure guiding splicing of a non-canonical intron from bZIP-containing genes called HAC1 in yeast, XBP1 in Metazoa, Hxl1 or Cib1 in Basidiomycota and bZIP60 in plants. Splicing is performed independently of the spliceosome by Ire1, a kinase with endoribonuclease activity. Exons are joined by a tRNA ligase. Recognition of the intron splice sites is mediated by a base-paired secondary structure of the mRNA that forms at the exon/intron boundaries. Splicing of the bZIP intron is a key regulatory step in the unfolded protein response (UPR). The Ire-mediated unconventional splicing was first described for HAC1 in S. cerevisiae.
Spring viraemia of carp, also known as swim bladder inflammation, is caused by Carp sprivivirus, also called Rhabdovirus carpio. It is listed as a notifiable disease under the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Vagococcus fluvialis is a species of bacteria. The type strain of V. fluvialis is NCDO 2497. It rarely causes human infection. The only genetically proven case of V. fluvialis endocarditis was detected in the Cochin, India.
Intelectins are lectins expressed in humans and other chordates. Humans express two types of intelectins encoded by ITLN1 and ITLN2 genes respectively. Several intelectins bind microbe-specific carbohydrate residues. Therefore, intelectins have been proposed to function as immune lectins. Even though intelectins contain fibrinogen-like domain found in the ficolins family of immune lectins, there is significant structural divergence. Thus, intelectins may not function through the same lectin-complement pathway. Most intelectins are still poorly characterized and they may have diverse biological roles. Human intelectin-1 (hIntL-1) has also been shown to bind lactoferrin, but the functional consequence has yet to be elucidated. Additionally, hIntL-1 is a major component of asthmatic mucus and may be involved in insulin physiology as well.
Philasterides dicentrarchi is a marine protozoan ciliate that was first identified in 1995 after being isolated from infected European sea bass reared in France. The species was also identified as the causative agent of outbreaks of scuticociliatosis that occurred between summer 1999 and spring 2000 in turbot cultivated in the Atlantic Ocean. Infections caused by P. dicentrarchi have since been observed in turbot reared in both open flow and recirculating production systems. In addition, the ciliate has also been reported to cause infections in other flatfishes, such as the olive flounder in Korea and the fine flounder in Peru, as well as in seadragons, seahorses, and several species of sharks in other parts of the world.
Sphaerospora molnari is a microscopic endoparasite of carp in pond cultures and natural freshwater habitats in Central and Eastern Europe. In natural infections, S. molnari invades the epithelia of gills and surrounding skin regions. It then forms spores in between epithelial cells, causing sphaerosporosis, a pathological condition of the skin and gill tissues. Affected tissues show marked dystrophic changes and necrosis, causing secondary bacterial infections and resulting in osmoregulatory and respiratory failure. Mortalities can reach 100% but little is known about the overall distribution of the parasite species in European carp ponds or its economic impact on carp aquaculture.
Fish allergy is an immune hypersensitivity to proteins found in fish. Symptoms can be either rapid or gradual in onset. The latter can take hours to days to appear. The former may include anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition which requires treatment with epinephrine. Other presentations may include atopic dermatitis or inflammation of the esophagus. Fish is one of the eight common food allergens which are responsible for 90% of allergic reactions to foods: cow's milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and soy beans.
Shellfish allergy is among the most common food allergies. "Shellfish" is a colloquial and fisheries term for aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs such as clams, mussels, oysters and scallops, crustaceans such as shrimp, lobsters and crabs, and cephalopods such as squid and octopus. Shellfish allergy is an immune hypersensitivity to proteins found in shellfish. Symptoms can be either rapid or gradual in onset. The latter can take hours to days to appear. The former may include anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition which requires treatment with epinephrine. Other presentations may include atopic dermatitis or inflammation of the esophagus. Shellfish is one of the eight common food allergens, responsible for 90% of allergic reactions to foods: cow's milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and soy beans.
Interleukin 15-like (IL-15L) is an interleukin, a type of cytokine signaling in the immune system. It is a secreted protein of approximately 120 amino acids and related to IL-2 and IL-15.
