Study of adherence, invasion and survival of Hafnia alvei in RTG-2

Abstract

Hafnia alvei is a Gram-negative bacillus that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae and has been isolated from different fish species. H. alvei causes a wide variety of diseases, including hemorrhagic septicemia, kidney lesions and mortality in different fish species, as rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, cherry salmon O. masou, and brown trout Salmo trutta. The aim of this study is to investigate the interaction of different H. alvei strains with RTG-2 by gentamicin protection and immunofluorescence assays. Our results demonstrated a considerable potential of H. alvei to attach to RTG-2 cells, and that the internalized strains remained viable in the cells for 48 h.