title: Detection and molecular characterization of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from seafood harvested along the southwest coast of India.
abstract: The levels of total and tdh(+)Vibrio parahaemolyticus were estimated in 83 seafood samples from southwest coast of India by colony hybridization. Conventional enrichment and isolation technique was also used to study the prevalence. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on bacterial cell lyates for detection of total and pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus by amplification of specific genes. Of 83 samples tested, V. parahaemolyticus could be detected in 74 (89.2%) samples and tdh(+)V. parahaemolyticus in 5 (6.0%) samples by colony hybridization. V. parahaemolyticus was detected in 68 (81.9%) of 83 samples after 18 h of enrichment by PCR, and isolated from 63 (75.9%) of 83 samples by conventional isolation. The virulence genes tdh and trh could be detected in 8.4% and 25.3%, respectively, in the sample enrichment broths by PCR. Use of colony hybridization following enrichment to achieve sensitive detection of tdh(+)V. parahaemolyticus in seafood was evaluated using another set of 58 seafood samples. Thirty pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated during the study were screened by PCR for genetic markers to be specific for the detection of the pandemic clone. Results of this study suggest that the GS-PCR may serve as a reliable genetic marker for the pandemic clone of V. parahaemolyticus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fishery Microbiology, College of Fisheries, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Mangalore 575 002, India.
authors.forename: Pendru
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Raghunath
authors.forename: Sadananda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Amarbahadur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhanumathi
authors.forename: Iddya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karunasagar
authors.forename: Indrani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karunasagar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000379:methods; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017747:Seafood / Q000382:microbiology*; D014736:Vibrio parahaemolyticus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C088609:thermostable direct hemolysin-related hemolysin protein, Vibrio parahaemolyticus