PKD eDNA monitoring:
Monitoring campaigns for Proliferative Kidney Disese (PKD) have been halted in Switzerland due to the economically and environmentally costs, and the time-consuming nature of established methods. However, the disease still has a non-negligible, temperature-dependent impact on wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations, which is expected to worsen with current global warming predictions. Thus, the establishment, optimisation, and validation of eDNA-based protocols are essential for the implementation of non-invasive PKD monitoring campaigns.
This project is based on previous research conducted at FIWI, aiming to validate the established in-house eDNA sampling and analyses protocols for the detection of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, the causative agent of PKD, in a wide geographic area (15 river systems from Saint-Gallen to Vaud), over two years. Samples will be collected on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, depending on season, and the detection rates of the target gene will be correlated with a variety of environmental parameters (e.g. water and air temperature, precipitation, flow rate). Moreover, the parasite’s abundance measured in water samples will be compared with that measured in the different hosts (i.e. bryozoans and brown trout), and histological and qPCR analyses will be performed in fish to obtain an overview of how disease status correlates with these results. Finally, the potential for implementation of Citizen Science initiatives in such sampling campaigns will be evaluated.
The results are expected to provide detailed information on the spatio-temporal dynamics of T. bryosalmonae abundance and the environmental factors affecting it, and to offer a simple, reliable non-invasive method for the monitoring of PKD’s causative agent to be implemented on a Federal scale.
Contact: Manuel Blonç; Nicolas Diserens; Heike Schmidt-Posthaus
