Zooplankton act as cruise ships promoting the survival and pathogenicity of pathogenic bacteria

Perera, Ishara; Fujiyoshi, So; Nishiuchi, Yukiko; Nakai, Toshihiro; Maruyama, Fumito

doi:10.1111/1348-0421.13029

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 202 publications

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“…phocae in 37% of nasopulmonary mite samples (family Halarachnidae ) from southern sea otters and California sea lions indicating those mites as potential vector for bacterial pathogens [ 48 ]. Moreover, the association with zooplankton has protective and promotive features for bacteria including pathogens, which again might enhance the bacterial survival rate [ 49 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survival and adaptation of Streptococcus phocae in host environments

Numberger,

Siebert,

Valentin Weigand

2024

PLoS ONE

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Marine mammals are sentinel species representing the “health” of our oceans on which we are dependent. There are many threats to marine mammals including infectious diseases that increase with climate change and pollution of the marine environment. Streptococcus phocae has frequently been isolated from diseased or dead marine mammals. However, its pathogenicity and contribution to disease in marine mammals is still unknown. As bacteria including (potential) pathogens has to deal with different host environments during colonization or infection, we investigated the survival of S. phocae in fresh porcine and phocid blood, in seawater and in the presence of macrophages and (epithelial) cells from harbor seals and pigs. Furthermore, we tested adherence on and invasion of different (marine) mammalian cells by S. phocae. Our results showed that S. phocae can survive in seawater for at least 11 and 28 days at 16°C and 4°C, respectively. It is able to grow in blood of harbor and grey seals, but not in porcine blood. Furthermore, S. phocae is adherent and invasive to cells from seals and pigs, while the portion of invasive cells was higher in seal derived cells. Macrophages of harbor seals were more efficient in killing S. phocae than porcine macrophages. Our results indicate that S. phocae has strategies enabling it to adapt to the marine environment and seal hosts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survival and adaptation of Streptococcus phocae in host environments

Numberger,

Siebert,

Valentin Weigand

2024

PLoS ONE

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Isolation and characterization of bacteria from the gut of a mesopelagic copepod Cephalophanes reflugens (Copepoda: Calanoida)

Hirano,

Nakai,

Nagai

et al. 2023

Journal of Plankton Research

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The mesopelagic calanoid copepod Cephalophanes reflugens is characterized by its large eyes with semi-parabolic reflectors. It is hypothesized that the eyes aid in finding crustacean carcasses as food in poor deep-sea light and oligotrophic conditions. Here, the crustacean carcasses-associated luminous, chitin-degrading bacteria may play a vital role in detecting and digesting foods by the copepod. In this study, we collected adult female C. reflugens (n = 9) from the mesopelagic layers off southwestern Japan in the Pacific Ocean and obtained a total of 47 bacterial isolates from the gut contents. None of the isolates were luminescent, but almost half of the isolates were chitinolytic. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences, these chitinolytic bacteria were identified as members of the genus Vibrio, Photobacterium and Pseudoalteromonas. In culture experiments at 15°C, most of the chitinolytic isolates efficiently utilized colloidal chitin as the sole carbon source and degraded the carapace strip of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Some isolates showed these chitinoclastic activities even at low temperatures (<5°C), equivalent to that of the deep-sea waters. The present results imply that chitin-degrading bacteria significantly contribute to chitin digestion in the gut of C. reflugens, whereas the involvement of luminous bacteria in the feeding mechanism remains unidentified.

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Zooplankton act as cruise ships promoting the survival and pathogenicity of pathogenic bacteria

Perera

Fujiyoshi

Nishiuchi

et al. 2022

Microbiology and Immunology

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Bacteria in general interact with zooplankton in aquatic ecosystems. These zooplankton-bacterial interactions help to shape the bacterial community by regulating bacterial abundances. Such interactions are even more significant and crucially in need of investigation in the case of pathogenic bacteria, which cause severe diseases in humans and animals. Among the many associations between a host metazoan and pathogenic bacteria, zooplankton provide nutrition and protection from stressful conditions, promote the horizontal transfer of virulence genes, and act as a mode of pathogen transport. These interactions allow the pathogen to survive and proliferate in aquatic environments and to endure water treatment processes, thereby creating a potential risk to human health. This review highlights current knowledge on the contributions of zooplankton to the survival and pathogenicity of pathogenic bacteria. We also discuss the need to consider these interactions as a risk factor in water treatment processes.

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Zooplankton act as cruise ships promoting the survival and pathogenicity of pathogenic bacteria

Cited by 3 publications

References 202 publications

Survival and adaptation of Streptococcus phocae in host environments

Survival and adaptation of Streptococcus phocae in host environments

Isolation and characterization of bacteria from the gut of a mesopelagic copepod Cephalophanes reflugens (Copepoda: Calanoida)

Zooplankton act as cruise ships promoting the survival and pathogenicity of pathogenic bacteria

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