Virulence factors and pathogenicity of Vibrio vulnificus strains isolated from seafood

The virulence factors of Vibrio vulnificus are not yet well understood. So far, many hydrolytic enzymes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this micro-organism. The present research was carried out in order to study the presence of some of these enzymes in 133 V. vulnificus strains isolated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied microbiology 1998-05, Vol.84 (5), p.747-751
Main Authors: Garcia Moreno, M.L, Landgraf, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Colony Count, Microbial
Culture Media
Enzymes - metabolism
Fish and seafood industries
fish products
food contamination
Food industries
Food Microbiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mice
Microbiology
Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains
Seafood - microbiology
seafoods
Vibrio - enzymology
Vibrio - growth & development
Vibrio - isolation & purification
Vibrio - pathogenicity
Vibrio vulnificus
Virulence
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Summary:The virulence factors of Vibrio vulnificus are not yet well understood. So far, many hydrolytic enzymes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this micro-organism. The present research was carried out in order to study the presence of some of these enzymes in 133 V. vulnificus strains isolated from 45 seafood samples. The results showed that 100% of these strains were positive for the production of lecithinase and lipase (Tween-80), 99.2% for caseinolytic protease, 96.9% for DNase, 65.4% for mucinase and 46.6% for elastase. None of the strains was positive for the production of collagenase and 96% were haemolytic against sheep blood cells. In relation to colony morphology on brain heart infusion (BHI) agar and nutrient agar, 59.4% of strains showed opaque morphology on BHI agar and 57.9% on nutrient agar, 10.5% presented translucent morphology on both agars and 30.1 and 31.6% of strains showed a mixture of opaque and translucent morphology on BHI agar and nutrient agar, respectively. None of the translucent colonies was virulent to mice. Therefore, opacity was a useful marker for potential virulence. Of 45 food samples contaminated with V. vulnificus, 29 (64.4%) presented strains lethal to adult mice.
ISSN:1364-5072
1365-2672
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2672.1998.00404.x