CEFAS24-29 Contract for whole genome sequencing of Streptococcus agalactiae serotypes in Indian aquatic systems, under the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP)

The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK's £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver tangible and positive impacts on the livelihoods of coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. The programme supports countries to strengthen marine science expertise, develop science-based policy and management tools, and create educational resources for coastal communities.

Under the sustainable seafood objective, the programme supports the development of the skills and expertise needed to adopt sustainable seafood practices. This will reduce risks such as the spread of zoonotic diseases from unsustainable or unsafe activities and will support trade in safe seafood. The programme will also help crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by supporting the development of better management, monitoring and enforcement capabilities.

Following a One Health Aquaculture workshop, held in Kerala, India in February 2023, key priorities were identified for India that support the overall aim of the Sustainable Seafood project. These priorities are:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
• Aquatic disease
• Water quality
• Climate change

In this project we aim to combine the AMR, aquatic disease and water quality priorities in one project focusing on characterising serotypes of Streptococcus agalactiae bacteria present in culture settings in Asia.

This project aims to characterise Streptococcus agalactiae serotypes from a range of regions and culture systems in India, as well as other countries in South-East Asia using high-throughput whole genome sequencing. The genomic data will be used to determine the AMR and toxin genes present in the serotypes, and compare them to existing data from humans, terrestrial-farmed animals, and aquatic animals to determine the risk of zoonosis from antimicrobial resistant S. agalactiae.

This Contract will be a collaboration between the Supplier and Cefas, with Cefas able to provide training and support in preparation of samples for whole genome (in the form of SOPs), and bioinformatic analysis of sequence data generated within this project. Training may be online or in-person and will be confirmed with Cefas with the Supplier upon Contract commencement.

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