On April 3rd, María Paz Durán, student at Universidad Austral de Chile and member of the “Animal Health in Marine Environments” successfully defended her Biology thesis entitled “Analysis and Identification of Genes Involved in Biofilm Production Under Thermal and Salinity Stress Conditions in Piscirickettsia salmonis.” In her research, María Paz Durán assessed the impact of thermal stress and salinity on the biofilm formation capabilities of Piscirickettsia salmonis. The thesis was supervised by Dr. Jaime Figueroa, Principal Investigator of the RP3 line at INCAR Center,
Her results suggest that the production of biofilm in this bacterium is regulated by genes that are activated under these stress conditions, allowing it to thrive in challenging environments, increasing the biofilm formation as a response to stressors. These findings offer significant insights into the adaptive mechanisms of P. salmonis and open new research pathways concerning its persistence and genetic regulation.
