Exploring the Pathogenic Potential of Vibrio vulnificus Isolated from Seafood Harvested along the Mangaluru Coast, India

Abstract

<jats:p>It has been observed that not all strains of Vibrio vulnificus are virulent. Determining the virulence of strains that are frequently present in seafood is of significance for ensuring seafood safety. This study is an attempt to predict the virulence of seafood-borne V. vulnificus isolated along the Mangaluru Coast, India. The isolates tested possessed a vcgC gene sequence with high similarity to that in the clinical strain. Transcriptional analysis of core virulence genes in seafood isolate E4010 showed the phenomenon of contact-mediated expression of rtxA1 which correlated well with the actin disintegration and cytotoxicity. These results suggest that the seafood isolates tested in this study possess a functional RtxA1 which could help in initiating the infection. However, other putative virulence genes such as vvpE encoding an extracellular protease, vvhA encoding hemolysin, flp encoding tad pilin and ompU encoding fibronectin-binding protein were also constitutively expressed. Virulence-associated attributes such as cytotoxicity and adherence matched the response of the clinical strain (p &gt; 0.05). On the other hand, the environmental strains showed higher serum sensitivity compared with the clinical strain. These findings show that the part of virulence attributes required for the disease process might be intact in these isolates.</jats:p>

Polymorphism and mutational diversity of virulence (vcgCPI/vcgCPE) and resistance determinants (aac(3)-IIa, (aacC2, strA, Sul 1, and 11) among human pathogenic Vibrio species recovered from surface waters in South-Western districts of Uganda

“…However, epidemiological studies have implicated the vcgC in clinical Vibrio isolates while the vcgE documented in environment isolates [ 39 , 54 ]. The nucleotide polymorphisms observed within the genetic loci vcg allele show an incomparable likeness to the genetic characteristics frequently found in environmental isolates, as previously reported by D’souza et al 2020) [ 55 ]. The nucleotides and amino acid alignment of [ strA ] Aminoglycoside 3′-phosphotransferase show no mutation or alteration in the gene sequences, possibly due to the highly conversed regions of the targeted gene.…”

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Detection Using Conventional PCR and Quantitative Real-Time PCR Based on Species-Specific Novel Gene Targets Identified by Pangenome Analysis

“…While P. aeruginosa is considered an opportunistic pathogen, several reports have indicated that the organism can also cause infections in healthy hosts ( Mateu-Borras et al, 2022 ). In addition, there was evidence that environmental isolates were as virulent as clinical strains ( Li et al, 2018 ; D’Souza et al, 2020 ). Previous studies have found that P. aeruginosa can highly contaminate vegetables, revealing the potential hazard of salad vegetables and the possibility of food-related outbreaks of disease ( Abrahale et al, 2019 ; Perez-Diaz et al, 2019 ; Villagran-de La Mora et al, 2020 ).…”