Comparative analysis of the survival and gene expression of pathogenic strains Vibrio harveyi after starvation.
This study aimed to evaluate the survival and gene expression of Vibrio harveyi under starvation conditions. The microcosms V. harveyi were incubated in sterilized seawater for 4 weeks at room temperature. Overall, the cell numeration declined rapidly about 103CFU/ml during starvation, with a tiny rebound at day 21. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that rod-shaped cells became sphere with a rippled cell surface. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, nine genes, named luxR, toxR, vhhB, flaA, topA, fur, rpoS, mreB and ftsZ, were detected in the non-starved cells. In the starved cells, the expression levels of the detected genes declined substantially ranging from 0.005-fold to 0.028-fold compared to the non-starved cells performed by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR with 16S rRNA as the internal control. In the recovering cells, the expression levels of the detected genes, except luxR and mreB, were upregulated dramatically compared to the wild, especially topA (23.720-fold), fur (39.400-fold) and toxR (9.837-fold), validating that the expressions of both the metabolism and virulence genes were important for growth and survival of V. harveyi. The results may shed a new light on understanding of stress adaptation in bacteria.
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.|College of Ocean, Huaihai Institute of Technology, Lianyungang, Jiangsu 222005, China.
Jingjing
J
Sun
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.|College of Ocean, Huaihai Institute of Technology, Lianyungang, Jiangsu 222005, China.
Xiaojian
X
Gao
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
Jiang
J
Qun
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
Xuedi
X
Du
College of Ocean, Huaihai Institute of Technology, Lianyungang, Jiangsu 222005, China.
Keran
K
Bi
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China zxj9307@163.com linli@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
Xiaojun
X
Zhang
Department of Aquatic Animal Medicine, College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China zxj9307@163.com linli@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
Li
L
Lin
D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000382:microbiology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D013217:Starvation; D014733:Vibrio / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Vibrio harveyi; gene expression; starvation; survival