title: Toxic and enzymatic activities of Vibrio vulnificus biotype 2 with respect to host specificity.
abstract: In this work, the enzymatic activities of selected strains of biotypes 1 and 2 of Vabrio vulnificus were analyzed by using conventional methods and the API ZYM system. The toxic activities of extracellular products (ECPs) were further evaluated by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The ECPs of both biotypes (i) showed high-level hydrolytic activities, (ii) displayed cytotoxicity for fish cell lines, and (iii) were lethal for eels. Exotoxins seem to be proteinaceous since heat treatment of ECP samples destroyed their toxicity. Only biotype 2 strains were virulent for cels, suggesting that host specificity must be related to differences in cell surface properties. Infectivity trials with other fish species also revealed that only biotype 2 strains were virulent.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia y Ecologia, Universidad de Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Biosca
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000633:toxicity; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D004524:Eels; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D005399:Fishes; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006868:Hydrolysis; D013045:Species Specificity; D014733:Vibrio / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D005098:Exotoxins