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Characterization of vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 from seafood by genome sequencing and virulence-associated phenotypic properties

Project


Project code: BfR-BIOS-08-1322-714
Contract period: 01.01.2019 - 31.12.2019
Purpose of research: Experimental development

The Vibrio reference laboratory has been receiving regularly Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 isolates in recent years. These isolates were from seafood samples taken by official food laboratories in Germany. The strains belong to more than 200 serogroups and are widespread in aquatic environments[1]. A number of reports have demonstrated that strains of these serogroups can cause diarrheal diseases or local infections but don’t have the ability to cause epidemic cholera outbreaks [2]. The major virulence factors of pandemic V. cholerae O1 and O139 are known to be the cholera toxin (CT) and the toxin coregulated pilus (TCP) which are not found in non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae strains. However, a number of virulence factors can be present that are known to contribute to the infection process in a synergistic way. These accessory virulence factors include mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin pilus (MSHA), different hemolysins, repeats-in-toxin (RTX) toxin clusters, and outer membrane proteins [3]. However, the occurrence of these factors is diverse in the strains. Other virulence factors are found only in some non-O1, non O139 V. cholerae and contribute essentially to the pathogenicity of these strains. The type III secretion system (TTSS) was shown to be necessary for colonization and causing diarrheal disease in animal studies [4]. The aim of this study is to characterize these strains by whole genome sequencing and to perform phenotypic tests that are known to be virulence-associated (hemolytic properties, resistance to human serum, biofilm formation). The combined results of these investigations will allow to perform an assessment of the potential risk associated with these group of bacteria. [1] Chatterjee et al. (2009) J Clin Microbiol 47(4):1087-1095 [2] Ceccarelli et al. (2015) Appl Enviro Microbiol. 81, 1909-1918. [3] Schirmeister ... Strauch (2014) Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 33:767-78. [4] Shin et al.(2011) MBio 2:e00106-11

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BMEL - research cluster

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