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ISOLATION OF CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ENDEMIC POPULATION OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE IN THE FLORIDA INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
Title
ISOLATION OF CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ENDEMIC POPULATION OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE IN THE FLORIDA INDIAN RIVER LAGOON.
Creator
Ganan, Carolina, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Vibrio choleraeis the etiological agent of the severe diarrheal disease-cholera and natural inhabitant of estuarine and coastal waters. The proximity of the Florida Indian River Lagoon (IRL) to areas affected by recent cholera outbreaks makes this estuary ideal to investigate the environmental dynamics and their potential role in V. cholerae's pathogen emergence. We identified two locations in the IRL, Feller's House UCF Field Station and Shepard Park, as our collection sites. We collected...
Show moreVibrio choleraeis the etiological agent of the severe diarrheal disease-cholera and natural inhabitant of estuarine and coastal waters. The proximity of the Florida Indian River Lagoon (IRL) to areas affected by recent cholera outbreaks makes this estuary ideal to investigate the environmental dynamics and their potential role in V. cholerae's pathogen emergence. We identified two locations in the IRL, Feller's House UCF Field Station and Shepard Park, as our collection sites. We collected samples from three different fractions - water, plankton, and sediment - and recorded data for several water parameters such as pH, temperature, and, turbidity. In the laboratory, we enriched samples in alkaline peptone water and isolated V. choleraeusing widely used selective media Thiosulfate-Citrate Bile Salts-sucrose agar (TCBS) and CHROMagar Vibrio. From our study, we isolated 100 potential V. cholerae isolates, which were confirmed using biochemical tests such as oxidase and Kligler's Iron Agar. V. cholerae has allelic variations in the core genes such as ompU, which provide pre-adaptation to virulence. We investigated the allelic variations within ompU to characterize V. cholerae isolates. We elucidated the sequenced allele of ompU and built a neighboring-joining phylogeny tree to view the differentiation among vibrios. Our findings provide insight into the endemic population of V. cholerae in the Eastern Coast of Florida. Further studies include a screen for additional virulence genes and investigate the role of environmental dynamics on the distribution of V. cholerae and emergence as a human pathogen.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFH2000581, ucf:45680
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000581
Allelic characterization and novel functions of the outer membrane porin U in Vibrio cholerae
Title
Allelic characterization and novel functions of the outer membrane porin U in Vibrio cholerae.
Creator
Sakib, Sk Nazmus, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, Moore, Sean, Roy, Herve, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Vibrio cholerae is the etiological agent of the severe diarrheal disease cholera. The bacterium is a natural inhabitant of brackish and estuarine waters . To date, only a subset of V. cholerae strains, those belonging to the pandemic group (PG), can cause cholera in humans while the rest (environmental group, EG) cannot cause the disease. Recently, we discovered that V. cholerae PG contains allelic variations in core genes that confer preadaptation to virulence, which we termed Virulence...
Show moreVibrio cholerae is the etiological agent of the severe diarrheal disease cholera. The bacterium is a natural inhabitant of brackish and estuarine waters . To date, only a subset of V. cholerae strains, those belonging to the pandemic group (PG), can cause cholera in humans while the rest (environmental group, EG) cannot cause the disease. Recently, we discovered that V. cholerae PG contains allelic variations in core genes that confer preadaptation to virulence, which we termed Virulence Adaptive Polymorphisms (VAPs). We identified nine core genes that encode potential VAPs, one of which encodes the outer membrane porin U (OmpU). OmpU provides tolerance to bile and acidic pH, resistance to antimicrobials and facilitates biofilm formation. In this study, several alleles of ompU were analyzed to determine whether these VAPs encode different functional properties. We performed multiple phenotypic assays and observed increased survival for strains encoding the PG-like alleles in the presence of bile, organic acid, anionic detergents and the antimicrobial peptide P2. On the other hand, EG-like alleles only showed increased biofilm formation. Interestingly, tests for motility and tolerance of inorganic acid, polymyxin B and protamine sulphate showed no differences in survival for strains encoding either alleles indicating that some of the properties conferred by OmpU are allelic independent. We have also discovered that V. cholerae OmpU shows resistance against Rifamycin, EDTA and Trifluoperazine and interestingly, Rifamycin has been found to be PG-allele dependent. Our findings provide further evidence that genetic variations in core genes lead to the emergence of virulence adaptive traits in pathogenic V. cholerae and can be extrapolated to other bacterial pathogens.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007720, ucf:52420
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007720