title: Virulence of an emerging pathogenic lineage of Vibrio nigripulchritudo is dependent on two plasmids.
abstract: Vibrioses are the predominant bacterial infections in marine shrimp farms. Vibrio nigripulchritudo is an emerging pathogen of the cultured shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris in New Caledonia and other regions in the Indo-Pacific. The molecular determinants of V. nigripulchritudo pathogenicity are unknown; however, molecular epidemiological studies have revealed that recent pathogenic V. nigripulchritudo isolates from New Caledonia all cluster into a monophyletic clade and contain a small plasmid, pB1067. Here, we report that a large plasmid, pA1066 (247 kb), can also serve as a marker for virulent V. nigripulchritudo, and that an ancestral version of this plasmid was likely acquired prior to other virulence-linked markers. Additionally, we demonstrate that pA1066 is critical for the full virulence of V. nigripulchritudo in several newly developed experimental models of infection. Plasmid pB1067 also contributes to virulence; only strains containing both plasmids induced the highest level of shrimp mortality. Thus, it appears that these plasmids, which are absent from non-pathogenic isolates, may be driving forces, as well as markers, for the emergence of a pathogenic lineage of V. nigripulchritudo.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique et Pathologie, IFREMER, 3790 La Tremblade, France. fleroux@ifremer.fr
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Le Roux
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Labreuche
authors.forename: Brigid M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Naeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mangenot
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goarant
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazel
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Waldor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D009510:New Caledonia; D033561:Penaeidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014733:Vibrio / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014735:Vibrio Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
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