Pathogenic changes due to inoculation of gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 1688) on host tissue proteins and enzymes of the giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man)

The freshwater giant prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 1688 revealed pathogenic symptoms in certain tissue biochemical parameters. The tissue proteins showed proteolysis. The chitinase and phenol oxidase activity in tissues revealed marked inhibition. The culmination of these biochemical changes is attributed to the tissue pathological changes characteristic of bacterial inoculation. The chitinoclastic nature of the opportunistic bacterial pathogen inducing the above symptoms reveal that the disease outbreak in shrimps is the outcome of a pathogenic chain linkage involving environment (medium)–bacterial population (opportunistic/endemic)–shrimp population. The delinking of the above chain bywater quality maintenance, selection of shrimp species and by keeping the bacterial population below that of damage threshold would have far reaching implications in enhancing productivity in this under water agriculture.