Nutritional immunity is essential for maintaining the balance of micronutrients like iron, manganese, and zinc at systemic and cellular levels, preventing invasive microorganisms from accessing these nutrients. A recent study conducted by researchers from Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh)/INCAR and Universidad San Sebastián (USS) Patagonia campus focused on evaluating the activation of nutritional immunity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) intraperitoneally stimulated with live and inactivated Piscirickettsia salmonis. The research, titled “Activation of Nutritional Immunity in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) by Live and Inactivated Piscirickettsia salmonis” by Danixa Martínez and colleagues, found that both live and attenuated P. salmonis can influence the levels of plasma and hepatic iron, impacting the regulation of key genes related to the metabolism of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and manganese. Interestingly, the study suggests that nutritional immunity responds similarly to both live and inactivated P. salmonis, triggered by the detection of bacterial PAMPs rather than direct competition for micronutrients.
For more information, please read the article “Live and inactivated Piscirickettsia salmonis activated nutritional immunity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)”, published in “Frontiers in Immunology”.