J Med Microbiol 58 (2009), 1160-1167; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.008466-0
© 2009 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 0022-2615
Detection of virulence-associated and regulatory protein genes in association with phage typing of human Vibrio cholerae from several geographical regions of the world
Tushar Suvra Bhowmick1,
Mayukh Das1,
Werner Ruppitsch2,
Anna Stoeger2,
Ariane Tatjana Pietzka2,
Franz Allerberger2,
D. P. Rodrigues3 and
B. L. Sarkar1
1 Division of Bacteriology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, India
2 Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Vienna, Austria
3 Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Correspondence
B. L. Sarkar
bl_sarkar{at}hotmail.com
Received December 3, 2008
Accepted May 26, 2009
Vibrio cholerae O1, O139 and occasionally non-O1/non-O139 serogroups are most often responsible for epidemic and pandemic cholera. This study used genotypic patterns of PCR-based detection of virulence-associated and regulatory protein genes, along with phage typing, to characterize 86 V. cholerae strains. Thirty-eight of 53 O1 biotype El Tor strains harboured both tcpA classical and tcpA El Tor genes, and three El Tor strains lacked the V. cholerae O1-specific gene (Vc-O1); three O139 strains contained both Vc-O1 and Vc-O139 genes and seven out of ten non-O1/non-O139 strains possessed the Vc-O1 gene. The latter strains all harboured the virulence-associated genes ctxA, zot, ace, RS1, hlyA, ompU, rtxA and sxt. Two phage types, T27 and T25, were predominant in strains from different geographical regions of India, whereas more variation in phage susceptibility was observed for tetracycline-resistant strains from Kolkata. These results suggest that the pattern and distribution of virulence genes and phage types of V. cholerae are equally useful and discriminatory in tracing the origin of newly emerging strains.
Copyright © 2009 Society for General Microbiology.