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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP6.1: Wildlife 1: Fish, Snakes & Turtles 10 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 3
Session Chair: Nathan Bott, RMIT University
Session Chair: Amanda Ash, Murdoch University

Presentation 1

Development and application of species-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays for the rapid detection of blood flukes of bluefin tunas

Melissa J. Carabott¹, Cecilia Power¹, Sho Shirakashi², Paul A. Ramsland¹, Barbara F. Nowak³, Nathan J. Bott¹

1: RMIT University, Australia; 2: Kindai University, Japan; 3: University of Tasmania, Australia

Blood flukes of the genus Cardicola (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) are a significant health concern in farmed and ranched bluefin tuna (Thunnus spp., BFT), contributing to substantial economic losses. Although recombinase polymerase assays (RPA) have been developed for two species of Cardicola, the high degree of sequence conservation across all three species infecting BFT limits reliable species-level discrimination. This study aimed to design, optimise and validate loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for the detection of the three Cardicola species infecting BFT and apply these assays to Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis, PBT) cultured in Japan. Species-specific LAMP assays were successfully developed for Cardicola forsteri, C. opisthorchis and C. orientalis targeting ITS-2 ribosomal DNA. In addition, these assays were applied to DNA from three sample types targeting sites of significant pathology, the heart, gill necropsy and gill biopsy of 15 PBT. Results were compared to outputs of quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR), the gold standard method for blood fluke detection in Australia, with LAMP demonstrating greater sensitivity. This research constitutes the first development and application of LAMP diagnostics for all three Cardicola species infecting BFT, providing a rapid, cost-effective and user-friendly alternative to conventional molecular diagnostics to support improved monitoring and management.