Vibrio vulnificus is a waterborne pathogen that was responsible for an outbreak of severe softtissue infections among fish farmers and fish consumers in Israel. Several factors have been shown to be associated with virulence. However, the transcriptome profile of the pathogen during human infection has not been determined yet. We compared the transcriptome profile, using RNA sequencing, of a human-pathogenic strain harvested directly from tissue of a patient suffering from severe soft-tissue infection with necrotizing fasciitis, with the same strain and three other environmental strains grown in vitro. The five sequenced libraries were aligned to the reference genomes of V. vulnificus strains CMCP6 and YJ016. Approximately 47.8 to 62.3 million pairedend raw reads were generated from the five runs. Nearly 84 % of the genome was covered by reads from at least one of the five runs, suggesting that nearly 16 % of the genome is not transcribed or is transcribed at low levels. We identified 123 genes that were differentially expressed during the acute phase of infection. Sixty-three genes were mapped to the large chromosome, 47 genes mapped to the small chromosome and 13 genes mapped to the YJ016 plasmid. The 123 genes fell into a variety of functional categories including transcription, signal transduction, cell motility, carbohydrate metabolism, intracellular trafficking and cell envelope biogenesis. Among the genes differentially expressed during human infection we identified genes encoding bacterial toxin (RtxA1) and genes involved in flagellar components, Flp-coding region, GGDEF family protein, iron acquisition system and sialic acid metabolism.

The aim of the study was to assess iron serum levels and markers of iron stores in non-anemic fibromyalgia (FM) patients and to evaluate their impact on the prevalence and clinical manifestations of FM patients. Eighty-four patients with primary FM and 87 controls were investigated. Demographic and clinical data were collected from all participants. All patients completed the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ). Patients evaluated the effect of the disease on their daily activity (DA) and judged the severity (DS) of the disease on a 0-10 scale. Venous blood was tested for serum iron, transferrin, ferritin, and soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR). Iron deficiency was defined if any of the following were present: serum iron <40 μg/dL, serum ferritin levels <10 ng/mL, or sTfR levels >28.1 nmol/L. Analysis at a cutoff level of serum ferritin levels ≤30 ng/mL and sTfR/ferritin ratio was also performed. Hemoglobin, iron, transferrin, sTfR, ferritin levels, and sTfR/ferritin ratios did not differ between the groups. The mean FIQ score was 57.13 ± 20.21 and the DA and DS scores were 6.79 ± 2.97 and 6.74 ± 3.09, respectively. No correlations were found between the parameters studied and the FIQ or its ten individual items. Thirty-eight controls (43.7%) and 23 FM patients (27.4%) had ferritin levels of ≤30 (p < 0.04). Within the FM group, lower levels were associated with lower total FIQ score and FIQ subscale scores. Patients with FM do not have reduced serum levels of iron or surrogate markers of iron stores. At present, there is no evidence to support iron supplementation in the treatment of FM.

In 1996 a common-source outbreak of severe soft tissue and bloodstream infections erupted among Israeli fish farmers and fish consumers due to changes in fish marketing policies. The causative pathogen was a new strain of Vibrio vulnificus, named biotype 3, which displayed a unique biochemical and genotypic profile. Initial observations suggested that the pathogen erupted as a result of genetic recombination between two distinct populations. We applied a whole genome shotgun sequencing approach using several V. vulnificus strains from Israel in order to study the pan genome of V. vulnificus and determine the phylogenetic relationship of biotype 3 with existing populations. The core genome of V. vulnificus based on 16 draft and complete genomes consisted of 3068 genes, representing between 59 and 78% of the whole genome of 16 strains. The accessory genome varied in size from 781 to 2044 kbp. Phylogenetic analysis based on whole, core, and accessory genomes displayed similar clustering patterns with two main clusters, clinical (C) and environmental (E), all biotype 3 strains formed a distinct group within the E cluster. Annotation of accessory genomic regions found in biotype 3 strains and absent from the core genome yielded 1732 genes, of which the vast majority encoded hypothetical proteins, phage-related proteins, and mobile element proteins. A total of 1916 proteins (including 713 hypothetical proteins) were present in all human pathogenic strains (both biotype 3 and non-biotype 3) and absent from the environmental strains. Clustering analysis of the non-hypothetical proteins revealed 148 protein clusters shared by all human pathogenic strains; these included transcriptional regulators, arylsulfatases, methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins, acetyltransferases, GGDEF family proteins, transposases, type IV secretory system (T4SS) proteins, and integrases. Our study showed that V. vulnificus biotype 3 evolved from environmental populations and formed a genetically distinct group within the E-cluster. The unique epidemiological circumstances facilitated disease outbreak and brought this genotype to the attention of the scientific community.

Vibrio vulnificus is the leading cause of seafood‐associated deaths worldwide. Despite the growing knowledge about the population structure of V. vulnificus, the evolutionary history and the ancestral relationships of strains isolated from various regions around the world have not been determined. Using the largest collection of sequence and isolate data of V. vulnificus to date, we applied ancestral character reconstruction to study the phylogeography of V. vulnificus. Multilocus sequence typing data from 10 housekeeping genes were used for the inference of ancestral states and reconstruction of the evolutionary history. The findings showed that the common ancestor of all V. vulnificus populations originated from East Asia, and later evolved into two main clusters that spread with time and eventually evolved into distinct populations in different parts of the world. While we found no meaningful insights concerning the evolution of V. vulnificus populations in the Middle East; however, we were able to reconstruct the ancestral scenarios of its evolution in East Asia, North America, and Western Europe.