• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.56-58
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• 2002

Understanding the molecular pathogenesis of the multifaceted host-pathogen interaction is critical in the development of improved treatment and prevention, as well as elucidating how certain bacteria can circumvent host defenses, multiply in the host, and cause such extensive damage. Disease caused by infection with V. vulnificus is remarkable for the invasive nature of the infection, ensuing severe tissue damage, and rapidly fulminating course. The characterization of somatic as well as secreted products of V. vulnificus has yielded a large list of putative virulence attributes, whose known functions are easily imagined to explain the pathology of disease. These putative virulence factors include a carbohydrate capsule, lipopolysaccharide, a cytolysin/hemolysin, elastolytic metalloprotease, iron sequestering systems, lipase, and pili. However, only few among the putative virulence factors has been confirmed to be essential for virulence by the use of molecular Koch's postulates. This presentation describes molecular biological characterization of the virulence factors contributing to survival as well as to toxigenesis of V. vulnificus.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.437-442
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• 2005

Sera from rabbits were infected with Vibrio vulnificus containing an antibody against major outer membrane protein (MOMP). MOMP of V. vulnificus ATCC 27562 were isolated and purified by Sarkosyl and TritonX-100 dual treatment. Molecular size of MOMP was identified as 36-kDa on $13\%$ SDS-PAGE. The sequence of the first 26 amino acid residues from the N-terminal end of the protein is AELYNQDGTSLDMGGRAEARLSMKDG, which is a perfect match with OmpU of V. vulnificus CMCP6 and YJ016. MOMP specific IgM and IgG were investigated in groups of mice. The group of mice immunized with MOMP and Alum showed higher levels of IgG2b than the group immunized with only MOMP. Vaccination with MOMP resulted in protective antibodies in the mouse infection experiment.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.320-326
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• 2003

In order to identify Vibrio vulnificus in the Yellow Sea near Gunsan, Korea during the early and late summers, the efficiency of the real-time quantitative TaqMan PCR was compared to the efficiency of the conventional PCR and Biolog identification system^TM. Primers and a probe were designed from the hemolysin/cytolysin gene sequence of V. vulnificus strains. The number of positive detections by real-time quantitative TaqMan PCR, conventional PCR, and the Biolog identification system from seawater were 53 (36.8%), 36 (25%), and 10 strains (6.9%), respectively, among 144 samples collected from Yellow Sea near Gunsan, Korea. Thus, the detection method of the real-time quantitative TaqMan PCR assay was more effective in terms of accuracy than that of the conventional PCR and Biolog system. Therefore, our results showed that the real-time TaqMan probe and the primer set developed in this study can be applied successfully as a rapid screening tool for the detection of V. vulnificus.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.70-74
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• 1999

Vibrio vulnificus, a normal bacterial inhabitant of estuaries, is of concern because it can be a potent human pathogen, a causing septicemia, wound infections and gastrointestinal disease in susceptible host. In this survey, total 431 samples were obtained from different sites of the Chonman coastal area during the periods from Mar. 1997 to Feb. 1998. Vibrio vulnificus was isolated from the middle of May to the begining of November of 1997 in Chonman coastal area, as the seawater temperature was at 20$^{\circ}C$ and 15$^{\circ}C$, respectively and was rapidly increased to above 40% from July to September. The isolation rates of V. vulnificus from sediment, seawater, raw seafoods and aquarium water were 52.1%, 49.1%, 32.5%, and 27.3%, respectively and isolation rate was highest in oyster among various collected samples. V.vulnificus was also isolated from 73.1%(38/52) of sampling sites of Chonman coastal area.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.149-154
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• 2003

Numerous virulence factors such as O antigen have been proposed to account for the fulminating and destructive nature of V. vulnificus infections. To better characterize the role of O antigen, a pmm gene encoding a phosphomannomutase was identified and cloned from V. vulnificus. The deduced amino acid sequence of the pmm was 42 to 71% similar to that reported from other Enterobacteriaceae. Functions of the pmm gene in virulence were assessed by the construction of an isogenic mutant, whose pmm gene was inactivated by allelic exchanges, and by evaluating its phenotype changes in vitro and in mice. The disruption of pmm resulted in a loss of more than 90% of phosphomannomutase, and reintroduction of recombinant pmm could complement the decrease of phosphomannomutase activity, indicating that the pmm gene encodes the phosphomannomutase of V. vulnificus. There was no difference in the $LD_50S$ of the wild-type and the pmm mutant in mice, but the $LD_50S$ observed by the mutant complemented with recombinant pmm were lower. Therefore, it appears that PMM is less important in the pathogenesis of V. vulnificus than would have been predicted by examining the effects of injecting purified LPS into animals, but it is not completely dispensable for virulence in mice.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.97-106
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• 1986

Authors studies on the isolation of V. vulnificus from sea water, sea mud fishes, shellfishes and algae at the seasides of Pusan, Masan, Chungmu and Ulsan in Korea in 1985. Authors carried out test for isolated strains to bacteriological test, hemolysis test about erythrocytes of various animal, sensitivity test of various chemotherapeutic agents and serological test with antiserum of V. vulnificus. The resultls obtained were as follows: 1. V. vulnificus was isolated 15 strains from 399 total specimens: 110 cases of sea water, 40 cases of sea mud, 90 cases of fishes, 60 cases of shellfishes and 79 cases of various algae, respectively. 2. Nine strains were isolalted from sea water, 4 strains were isolated from sea mud and 2 strains were isolated from fishes, respectively. 3. Two strains among 15 strains isolated were lactose positive reaction. 4. All strains isolated were grown in concentration of $0.5%{\sim}7.0%$ NaCl, but were not grown 0% and 8.0% NaCl. 5. Hemolysis reaction about various erythrocytes was sensitived to guinea pig, human and rabbit erythrocytes, but was not sensitived to sheep erythrocytes. 6. Sensitivity test using with chemotherapeutic agents of "BioLab" Microbial Sensitivity Test Discs were generally sensitived to amikacin, ampicillin, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamycin, kanamycin, streptomycin, tetracyclin and tobramycin, and were moderate to penicillin, but were resistant to methicillin and lincomycin, respectively. 7. The distribution of serotypes of V. vulnificus isolated were on antiserum of $0.1{\sim}07$ of V. vulnificus: 1 case of 01 and 2 cases of 07, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.501-504
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• 1998

The role of iron as a possible pathogenic factor in the Infection of V. vulnificus was examined in thins paper The effects of iron and $CCl_4$ on the growth of V. vulnificus in human and rabbit sera were also done. Injection of iron to mice resulted in a lowering of the 50% lethal dose and in a reduction in the time of death postinfection. Serum iron levels were also elevated by damaged livers with infections of $CCl_4$- The inoculum size required to kill these mice was directly correlated with serum iron Irvels. Iron appeared to be the limiting factor In the ability of thins organism to survive or grow in mammalian sera. These results, both in vitro and In vivo, provided strong evidence that iron may play a major role In the pathogenesis of V. vulnificus.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.438-443
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• 2006

Antibacterial effects of six volatile essential oils against Vibrio sp. were evaluated. Volatile components of essential oil were analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Ginger oil treatment inhibited growth of V. parahaemolyticus by 22.5-85.7%. Main volatile compounds of ginger oil were ${\beta}-bisabolene$ (35.19%, peak area) and ${\beta}-sesquiphellandrene$ (12.22%). V. parahaemolyticus was completely inhibited at 1,000 ppm by treatment with mustard oil. Tolerances of V. vulnificus 01 and 02 were twice higher than that of V. parahaemolyticus. Main volatile compound of mustard oil was allyl isothiocyanate (92.55%). Garlic oil treatment of 1,000 ppm inhibited growths of V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus 01, and V. vulnificus 02 by 22.8, 14.6, and 32.9%, respectively. Main volatile compounds of garlic oil were dimethyl sulfide (49.39%) and methyl 2-propenyl disulfide (10.09%). Growth of V. vulnificus 02 was inhibited by 60.6-80.3% via treatment with bud, leaf, and whole oil of clove. Antibacterial activity of whole clove oil on V. vulnificus 02 was stronger than those of ginger, mustard, and garlic oil. Main volatile compounds were eugenol (83.33%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (7.47%) in clove bud, eugenol (87.46%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (10.03%) in clove leaf, and eugenol (86.04%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (9.71%) in whole clove. These results revealed essential oils from spices could be used as potential agents to inhibit Vibrio sp.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.329-335
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• 1996

This project studies marine Vibrio vulnificus in oysters in the marine environment and attempts to correlate this bacteria's presence within various environmental parameters; we design this study to determine how different storage temperatures affect the survival of V. vuinficus in oysters and whether V. vulnificus is able to persist in oysters after exposure to UV light-disinfected seawater. Experimental depuration systems consist of aquaria containing temperature-controlled seawater treated with UV light and 0.2 ㎛ pore size filtration. Results showed that depuration at temperatures higher than 25℃ caused V. vuinificus counts to increase in oysters. Throughout the process, depuration water contained high concentrations of U vuinificus indicating"that the disinfection properties of UV radiation and 0.2 ㎛ pore size filtration were less than 어e release of V. vuinificus into seawater, In contrast, when depuration seawater was maintained at 10℃, the numbers of V. vuinificus were very little and multiplication in oysters was inhibited.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1337-1345
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• 2005

Vibrio vulnificus is the causative agent of foodborne diseases such as gastroenteritis and life-threatening septicemia. Microbial pathogenicity is a complex phenomenon in which expression of numerous virulence factors is frequently controlled by a common regulatory system. In the present study, a mutant exhibiting decreased cytotoxic activity toward intestinal epithelial cells was screened from a library of V. vulnificus mutants constructed by a random transposon mutagenesis. By a transposon-tagging method, an open reading frame, fexA, a homologue of Escherichia coli areA, was identified and cloned. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the fexA were analyzed, and the amino acid sequence of FexA from V. vulnificus was $84\%\;to\;97\%$ similar to those of AreA, an aerobic respiration control global regulator, from other Enterobacteriaceae. Functions of the FexA were assessed by the construction of an isogenic mutant, whose fexA gene was inactivated by allelic exchanges, and by evaluating its phenotype changes in vitro and in mice. The disruption of fexA resulted in a significant alteration in growth rate under aerobic as well as anaerobic conditions. When compared to the wild-type, the fexA mutant exhibited a substantial decrease in motility and cytotoxicity toward intestinal epithelial cell lines in vitro. Furthermore, the intraperitoneal $LD_{50}$ of the fexA mutant was approximately $10^{1}-10^{2}$ times higher than that of parental wild-type. Therefore, it appears that FexA is a novel global regulator controlling numerous genes and contributing to the pathogenesis as well as growth of V. vulnificus.