Oxygen induces the expression of invasion and stress response genes in the anaerobic salmon parasite Spironucleus salmonicida.
Courtney W StairsAnna KoklaÁsgeir ÁstvaldssonJon Jerlström-HultqvistStaffan SvärdThijs J G EttemaPublished in: BMC biology (2019)
While oxygen is toxic for related organisms, such as G. intestinalis, we find that oxygen is likely a gene induction signal for host invasion- and evasion-related pathways in S. salmonicida. These data provide the first molecular evidence for how S. salmonicida could tolerate oxic host environments and demonstrate how LGT can have a profound impact on the biology of anaerobic parasites.