The millions of deaths from cholera during the past 200 y, coupled with the morbidity and mortality of cholera in Haiti since October 2010, are grim reminders that Vibrio cholerae , the etiologic agent of cholera, remains a scourge. We report the isolation of both V . cholerae O1 and non-O1/O139 early in the Haiti cholera epidemic from samples collected from victims in 18 towns across eight Arrondissements of Haiti. The results showed two distinct populations of V. cholerae coexisted in Haiti early in the epidemic. As non-O1/O139 V . cholerae was the sole pathogen isolated from 21% of the clinical specimens, its role in this epidemic, either alone or in concert with V . cholerae O1, cannot be dismissed. A genomic approach was used to examine similarities and differences among the Haitian V . cholerae O1 and V . cholerae non-O1/O139 strains. A total of 47 V . cholerae O1 and 29 V . cholerae non-O1/O139 isolates from patients and the environment were sequenced. Comparative genome analyses of the 76 genomes and eight reference strains of V . cholerae isolated in concurrent epidemics outside Haiti and 27 V . cholerae genomes available in the public database demonstrated substantial diversity of V. cholerae and ongoing flux within its genome.

Vibrio species are both ubiquitous and abundant in marine coastal waters, estuaries, ocean sediment, and aquaculture settings worldwide. We report here the isolation, characterization, and genome sequence of a novel Vibrio species, Vibrio antiquarius, isolated from a mesophilic bacterial community associated with hydrothermal vents located along the East Pacific Rise, near the southwest coast of Mexico. Genomic and phenotypic analysis revealed V. antiquarius is closely related to pathogenic Vibrio species, namely Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio harveyi, and Vibrio vulnificus, but sufficiently divergent to warrant a separate species status. The V. antiquarius genome encodes genes and operons with ecological functions relevant to the environment conditions of the deep sea and also harbors factors known to be involved in human disease caused by freshwater, coastal, and brackish water vibrios. The presence of virulence factors in this deep-sea Vibrio species suggests a far more fundamental role of these factors for their bacterial host. Comparative genomics revealed a variety of genomic events that may have provided an important driving force in V. antiquarius evolution, facilitating response to environmental conditions of the deep sea.W ith more than 110 recognized species, the genus Vibrio comprises a diverse group of heterotrophic bacteria, of which many are known pathogens, causing disease in animals and humans (1, 2). Vibrio cholerae is the most notorious because it is the causative agent of cholera. Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus cause severe illness in humans and are associated with consumption of contaminated seafood (3, 4). Vibrio harveyi (5), Vibrio anguillarum (6, 7), and V. parahaemolyticus (8) continue to cause substantial economic losses to the aquaculture industry worldwide.Vibrios demonstrate a wide range of niche specialization: for example, free-living, attached to biotic and abiotic surfaces, and resident in both estuarine and marine habitats (9). The deep sea constitutes the largest habitat of the biosphere that supports microbial communities across three domains of life and represents an environment where physiochemical parameters-such as low temperature, high salinity, and high pressure-modulate community structure (10, 11). Several studies have shown the presence of physiologically, metabolically, and phylogenetically diverse mesophilic microbial communities in the deep sea, including Vibrio species (12-15). Barotolerant Vibrio spp. have been isolated from deep-sea sediment and from the gut microflora of invertebrates and fish collected from a variety of deepsea habitats, including hydrothermal vents (16,17). For example, strains of Vibrio, Aeromonas, and Pseudomonas spp. were isolated from mud-water samples collected at a depth of 4,940 m, 150 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Florida (18). Several culturedependent and -independent studies have confirmed the ubiquity of vibrios, and suggested Vibrio populations generally comprise approximately 1% (by molecular...

Whether Vibrio mimicus is a variant of Vibrio cholerae or a separate species has been the subject of taxonomic controversy. A genomic analysis was undertaken to resolve the issue. The genomes of V. mimicus MB451, a clinical isolate, and VM223, an environmental isolate, comprise ca. 4,347,971 and 4,313,453 bp and encode 3,802 and 3,290 ORFs, respectively. As in other vibrios, chromosome I (C-I) predominantly contains genes necessary for growth and viability, whereas chromosome II (C-II) bears genes for adaptation to environmental change. C-I harbors many virulence genes, including some not previously reported in V. mimicus, such as mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin (MSHA), and enterotoxigenic hemolysin (HlyA); C-II encodes a variant of Vibrio pathogenicity island 2 (VPI-2), and Vibrio seventh pandemic island II (VSP-II) cluster of genes. Extensive genomic rearrangement in C-II indicates it is a hot spot for evolution and genesis of speciation for the genus Vibrio. The number of virulence regions discovered in this study (VSP-II, MSHA, HlyA, type IV pilin, PilE, and integron integrase, IntI4) with no notable difference in potential virulence genes between clinical and environmental strains suggests these genes also may play a role in the environment and that pathogenic strains may arise in the environment. Significant genome synteny with prototypic pre-seventh pandemic strains of V. cholerae was observed, and the results of phylogenetic analysis support the hypothesis that, in the course of evolution, V. mimicus and V. cholerae diverged from a common ancestor with a prototypic sixth pandemic genomic backbone.A Gram-negative gamma Proteobacterium, Vibrio mimicus is closely related to Vibrio cholerae. It was first described as a biochemically atypical Vibrio cholerae (1). However, it is phenotypically and genotypically distinct from V. cholerae and can be differentiated from V. cholerae by 12 specific biochemical reactions, including sucrose fermentation, Voges-Proskauer reaction (acetoin production from glucose), lipase production, sodium tartrate fermentation, and polymyxin sensitivity. showed mean pairwise divergence from V. cholerae to be ≈10%, equivalent to the divergence of Salmonella enterica LT2 from Escherichia coli K-12 (2, 3).The natural habitat of V. mimicus is similar to that of V. cholerae, i.e., the aquatic ecosystem, including seawater, freshwater, and brackish water, where it has been found both as a free-living bacterium and in association with zooplankton, crustaceans, filter-feeding mollusks, turtle eggs, and fish. Infections in humans occur from consumption or exposure to these sources (4-9). V. mimicus human gastroenteritis is characterized by diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and fever. However, unlike V. cholerae, V. mimicus has not been associated with epidemics of cholera-like diarrhea, probably because most isolates of V. mimicus do not produce cholera toxin (CT). In fact, Chowdhury et al. (5) reported that fewer than 10% of clinical isolates and fewer than 1% of environmental st...

Two chromium-resistant bacteria (IFR-2 and IFR-3) capable of reducing/transforming Cr(VI) to Cr(III) were isolated from tannery effluents. Isolates IFR-2 and IFR-3 were identified as Staphylococcus aureus and Pediococcus pentosaceus respectively by 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. Both isolates can grow well on 2,000 mg/l Cr(VI) (as K 2 Cr 2 O 7 ) in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. Reduction of Cr(VI) was found to be growthassociated in both isolates and IFR-2 and IFR-3 reduced 20 mg/l Cr(VI) completely in 6 and 24 h respectively. The Cr(VI) reduction due to chromate reductase activity was detected in the culture supernatant and cell lysate but not at all in the cell extract supernatant of both isolates. Whole cells of IFR-2 and IFR-3 converted 24 and 30% of the initial Cr(VI) concentration (1 mg/l) in 45 min respectively at 37°C. NiCl 2 stimulated the growth of IFR-2 whereas HgCl 2 and CdCl 2 significantly inhibited the growth of both isolates. Optimum temperature and pH for growth of and Cr(VI) reduction by both isolates were found to be between 35 and 40°C and pH 7.0 to 8.0. The two bacterial isolates can be good candidates for detoxification of Cr(VI) in industrial effluents.

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