Microbiology Department members Kelly Shannon, graduate student, and Christopher Suffridge, Assistant Professor of Senior Research, are gaining attention from the press for their work in discovering vitamin B1 in rivers where B1-deficient salmon populations spawn. The finding has been published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology and reported on by OPB, JPR and KTVZ.

The paper, first published in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal, is "the first-ever report of thiamine compounds in salmon spawning rivers and the associated gravels where salmon spawn,” Suffridge said. “This source of thiamine has potential implications for reducing health impacts on naturally spawning salmon that are suffering from thiamine deficiency complex."

Thiamine, or vitamin B1, has been found to be associated with microbial communities in salmon spawning grounds of the Sacramento River watershed. This is a hopeful development for salmon populations in the Central Valley, which suffer from thiamine deficiency complex (TDC).

This deficiency is thought to be caused by the changing marine feeding habits of Chinook salmon, specifically the pronounced increase of anchovies in their diet. Anchovies, unlike sardines, contain high traces of thiaminase, which breaks down thiamine.

This lack of thiamine is passed from adults to offspring, inadvertently harming hatchlings who require the vitamin. This causes countless health problems, leading to high mortality rates.

The next step for the researchers is to find out if the amount of naturally-occurring thiamine in the rivers is sufficient to support salmon population growth, and how to implement this information. Currently, salmon are treated with "thiamine baths" in hatcheries to combat the deficiency.

Suffridge says this new finding is something to consider in salmon restoration efforts. “We believe that including the microbes that live in the river and in the river gravels is important in understanding what makes a successful spawning habitat,” says Suffridge.