• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.225-229
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• 1997

A halophilic V. vulnificus is an estuarine microorganism that has been associated with fatal wound Infection and life-threatening septicemia. Hemolysin is defined as toxic substance produced by various species of bacteria Including V. vulnificus. Hemolysin from marine V. vulnificus was purified and the effect of pH, temperature. metal ion on the activity of hemolysin, and thermostability of hemolysin were tested in this study. Hemolysin iysed the sheep red blood cell and the optimum pH was 8.0, the optimum temperature was 4$0^{\circ}C$, and $K^+$ increased but $Mn^{2+}$ decreased the hemolyic activity of hemolysin, but hemolysin was unstable to heat.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2004

Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic bacterium frequently involved in human infection of seafood-associated primary septicemia and primary wound infection, mostly in men with over 40-years of age with underlying liver disease. The primary septicemia, which is the most common form of V. vulnificus infection in Korea, is defined as a systemic illness presenting fever or hypotension with recovery of V. vulnificus from blood or tissue without the apparent primary focus of infection. V. vulnificus typically do not produce acid from sucrose, but a case of primary septisemia was found in a patient at Chonnam K hospital in 1993 from whose blood a sucrose-fermenting strain was isolated. The patient was a 62-year-old man, heavy drinker, with underlying liver disease. He consumed a raw seafood dish two days before onset of the present illness. His symptoms were tenderness and swelling on the right foot. He rapidly developed septicemia, resulting in sudden death. V. vulnificus was isolated from the venous blood culture of the patient. On subculture, the isolate formed yellow colonies on TCBS and produced acid from sucrose. Because of these characteristics, species identification was not achieved by the API 20E and was delayed. Other characteristics of the isolate were identical to those of typical V. vulnificus. The isolate was common serotype O4A and possession of V. vulnificus-specific cytolysin gene was detected by PCR. The isolate was susceptible to all the antimicrobial agents tested including tetracycline, but was intermediate to colistin. In conclusion, it is important that microbiologists be aware of the presence of sucrose-positive V. vulnificus when he or she identifies gram-negative bacilli, which is isolated from the blood of patients with a recent history of raw seafood dish consumption.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.558-568
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• 2023

Vibrio vulnificus is an aquatic bacterium causing septicemia and wound infection in humans. To understand this pathogen at the genomic level, it was performed whole genome sequencing of a cefoxitin-resistant strain, V. vulnificus 1908-10 possessing virulence-related genes (vvhA, viuB, and vcgC) isolated from Gadeok island coastal seawater in South Korea. The genome of V. vulnificus 1908-10 consisted of two circular contigs and no plasmid. The total genome size was estimated to be 5,018,425 bp with a guanine-cytosine (GC) content of 46.9%. We found 119 tRNA and 34 rRNA genes respectively in the genome, along with 4,352 predicted protein sequences. Virulence factor (VF) analysis further revealed that V. vulnificus 1908-10 possess various virulence genes in classes of adherence, antiphagocytosis, chemotaxis and motility, iron uptake, quorum sensing, secretion system, and toxin. In the comparison of the presence/absence of virulence genes, V. vulnificus 1908-10 had fur, hlyU, luxS, ompU, pilA, pilF, rtxA, rtxC, and vvhA. Of the 30 V. vulnificus comparative strains, 80% of the C-genotype strains have all of these genes, whereas 40% of the E-genotype strains have all of them. In particular, pilA were identified in 80% of the C-type strains and 40% of the E-type strains, showing more difference than other genes. Therefore, V. vulnificus 1908-10 had similar VF characteristics to those of type C strains. Multifunctional-autoprocessing repeats-in-toxin (MARTX) toxin of V. vulnificus 1908-10 contained 8 A-type repeats (GXXGXXXXXG), 25 B.1-type repeats (TXVGXGXX), 18 B2-type repeats (GGXGXDXXX), and 7 C-type repeats (GGXGXDXXX). The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) showed that the RtxA protein of V. vulnificus 1908-10 had the effector domain in the order of cross-liking domain (ACD)-C58_PaToxP-like domain- α/β hydrolase-C58_PaToxP-like domain.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2019

In the case of being contaminated with pathogenic Vibrio, shellfish pose a serious threat for public health. This study was conducted to investigate the presence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus in the seawater, bottom deposit and shellfish samples collected from the Gomso Bay, west coast of Korea. V. parahaemolyticus (30-80 CFU/g) was detected from seawater Jul. to Oct. and highest at Sep. V. parahaemolyticus was detected less than 10 CFU/g from seawater at Nov. with $14.6^{\circ}C$ of seawater temperature. V. parahaemolyticus (180-1,850 CFU/g) was detected more than 100 CFU/g from 3 kinds of shellfish, Short-necked clam Ruditapes philippinarum, Corb shell Cyclina sinensis, and Surf clam Mactra veneriformis, Jul. to Oct. and was highest in Surf clam at Oct. V. parahaemolyticus was detected less than 20 CFU/g from all tested shellfish at Nov. V. vulnificus (1.8-2.7 MPN/100 mL) was detected from seawater Jul. to Oct. and was not detected at Nov. V. vulnificus (18-236.7 MPN/100 g) was also detected from 3 kinds of shellfish Jul. to Oct. and was highest in Corb shell at Jul. V. vulnificus was not detected from all tested shellfish at Nov.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.591-600
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• 1987

To evaluate the detection rate and the density of Vibrio vulnificus by the sample, sampling area and date, 240 sea water samples and marine invertebrates were collected from coastal area of Korea including Pohang, Chungmu, Yeosu, Kunsan, Sihwa and Pusan from March to October, 1986. Eighty two strains oft of 1087 strains isolated from the submitted samples were identified as V. vulnificus. Forty seven of total 240 samples were positive in V. vulnificus which were constituted by 31 out of 138 sea water samples and 16 out of 102 marine invertebrates. Detection rate of V. vulnificus among the invertebrates was high in the crab, Portunus trituberculatus and the ark shell, Anadara broughtonii samples. The samples collected at Kunsan area showed the highest in detection rate of the bacterium as $67\%$ during the study period and the density of V. vulnificus was high in the sea water which was low in salinity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.295-300
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• 2004

A marine bacterium for producing an collagenolytic protease was isolated from the southern sea of Korea and identified as Vibrio vulnificus and named as Vibrio vulnificus CYK279H. This strain producing an collagenolytic protease was showed high activity toward collagen and gelatin as substrate. The optimum initial pH, NaCl, and temperature for cell growth and protease production was 7.5, 2.0% and 25$^{\circ}C$, respectively. Optimization for collagenolytic protease production was composed of 0.3% D-galactose, 0.6% yeast extract, 4.0% gelatin, 0.2% (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$, and 0.2 mM ferric citrate in artificial sea water. The maximum protease production was required gelatin and yeast extract. The collagenolytic protease production by Vibrio vulnificus CYK279H reached a maximum of 73 unit/l after the cultivation for 18 h under the optimized medium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.423-428
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• 1997

Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic gram-negative human pathogen, which affects people with underlying liver diseases or a suppressed immune system, often leading to primary septicemia with a mortality rate of higher than 60%. In an effort to develop an oral vaccine against V. vulnificus infection, we prepared a whole cell killed vaccine of V. vulnificus on a large scale and compared the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the vaccine administered in three formulation forms in rabbits. Since V. vulnificus O-antigen serotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 account for more than 95% of clinical isolates, we prepared cell lysates from these six serotype strains and mixed in equal amounts for a vaccine. The vaccine was administered to rabbits intramuscularly (i.m.), orally as granules or as enteric-coated granules. In rabbits, all three formulation forms elicited a high level of serum IgG antibody reactive not only to the six strains but also to other O-antigen serotypes 6, 8 and 9, indicating cross-reactivities among the strains. Immunotherapeutic efficacy of the antisera was also evaluated by a passive immunization assay, which revealed that the orally immunized antisera as well as the i.m. immunized antisera was protective against a subsequent lethal challenge of V. vulnificus. These data demonstrate that oral immunization with a V. vulnificus whole cell lysate vaccine induced a systemic immune response and suggest the feasibility of development of this vaccine preparation as an oral vaccine.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.664-670
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• 2014

In the present study, we investigate the role of V. vulnificus in promoting the inflammation of mouse ileal ephitelium and its related signaling pathways. ICR mice were infected orally with V. vulnificus ($1{\times}10^9CFU$) for 16 h as a representative model of food-borne infection. To find the major portal of entry of V. vulnificus in mouse intestine, we have measured the levels of bacterial colonization in small intestine, colon, spleen, and liver. V. vulnificus appeared to colonize in intestine and colon in the order of ileum >> jejunum> colon, but lack in the duodenum, spleen, and liver. V. vulnificus in ileum caused severe necrotizing enteritis and showed shortened villi heights accompanied by an expanded width and inflammation, compared with the control mice. V. vulnificus induced ileal epithelium inflammation by activating phosphorylation of PKC and membrane translocation of $PKC{\alpha}$. V. vulnificus induced the phosphorylation of ERK and JNK, but did not affect p38 MAPK phosphorylation. Notably, V. vulnificus stimulated the I-${\kappa}B$-dependent phosphorylation of NF-${\kappa}B$ in mouse ileal epithelium. Finally, the ileal infection of V. vulnificus resulted in a significant increase in expression of proinflammatory cytokines and Toll-like receptors, respectively, compared to the control. Collectively, our results indicate that V. vulnificus induces ileal epithelium inflammation by increasing NF-${\kappa}B$ phosphorylation via activation of PKC, ERK, and JNK, which is critical for host defense mechanism in food-borne infection by V. vulnificus.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.121-126
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• 1986

Bactericidal activity of normal and cirrhotic patients' sera against Vibrio vulnificus was investigated and compared each other as a part of the pathogenesis study of V. vulnificus septicemia. Bactericidal activity of serum against V. vulnificus was complement-dependent and the alternative pathway played the major role. V. vulnificus strains CDC A1402 and ATCC 27562 appeared serum-sensitive, and CDC C7184, clinical isolate CNUH1 and ATCC 29307 were serum-resistant. When bactericidal activity of cirrhotic sera against serum-sensitive CDC A1402 and serum-resistant CDC C7184 was compared with that of normal sera. showed slightly poorer bactericidal activity than normal sera. Especially in the case of serum-resistant CDC C7184 strain, cirrhotic sera showed statistically significant decrease(p<0.05) in their bactericidal activity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.844-849
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• 2022

The pathogenic Vibrio genus denotes halophilic bacteria that are distributed in aquatic environments, including both sea and freshwater. V. cholerae, V. vulnificus, and V. parahaemolyticus are the main species that can be potent human pathogens and the leading cause of septicemia, wound infections, and seafood borne gastroenteritis. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of pathogenic Vibrios in seawater. We obtained a total of 80 seawater samples from the Geum River estuary area in the west coast of Korea from April to December 2021. Pathogenic Vibrios was determined using a combination of the most probable number-polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR) methods. The detection levels of V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus in the seawater samples were 7.5%, 68.8%, and 30.0%, respectively. The quantitative results were as follows: 3.6-3.6 MPN/100 mL in V. cholerae, 3.6-3,400 MPN/100 mL in V. parahaemolyticus, and 3.6-4,300 MPN/100 mL in V. vulnificus. Overall, these results provide novel insight into the necessity for seawater sanitation in the Geum River estuary area, and could help reduce the risk of seafood-borne outbreaks caused by pathogenic Vibrios.