Investigation of seven Vibrio virulence genes among Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains from the coastal mariculture systems in Guangdong, China.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the distribution of the virulence of two Vibrio species among different strains obtained from the mariculture systems on the coast of Guangdong in China and the correlation between the virulence strains and the virulence genes among Vibrio alginolyticus.


METHODS
Besides three strains, 72 V. alginolyticus strains and seven Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains were examined by PCR or semi-nested PCR for the virulence genes (tlh, trh, tdh, toxR, toxRS, ctxA, VPI). Additionally, the virulence of 18 V. alginolyticus strains was tested.


CONCLUSIONS
Virulence genes homologous to those in the V. parahaemolyticus and Vibrio cholerae are widely distributed among V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus in the coastal mariculture systems in Guangdong, China. Some of the V. alginolyticus strains are pathogenic to aquatic animals, and might have derived their virulence genes from V. parahaemolyticus or V. cholerae, representing a possible reservoir of these genes. However, there is no correlation between presence and absence of the virulence genes used to investigate V. alginolyticus and its virulent strains. In this report, we also show that tlh is distributed among V. alginolyticus.
Xie
Z-Y
ZY
South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Hu
C-Q
CQ
Chen
C
C
Zhang
L-P
LP
Ren
C-H
CH
D002681:China; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D044149:Vibrio alginolyticus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014736:Vibrio parahaemolyticus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics