Vibrio campbellii

Biology

Quorum sensing allows the bacterium to communicate with autoinducers, a chemical signaling molecule that is secreted. Some strains of V. campellii are known to be not luminescent; these strains are thought to be less virulent than the luminescent strains. Bioluminescence in bacteria is due to the reaction:

FMNH− + H+ + RCHO + → FMN + RCOOH + + hν

and is catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase. A new luciferase was isolated from V. campbellii (Lux_Vc) and is similar to that of the Lux_Vh found in V. harveyi, but is more thermodynamically stable due to the binding of reduced FMN.

The V. campbellii strains PEL22A, BAA-1116, AND4 are known to be mixotrophic or more specifically photo(organo)heterotrophic. This is considered a rare phenotype in Vibrio and is thought to be caused by their exploitation of lateral gene transfer during adaptation.

Pathogenesis

The causes of virulence can vary depending on different strains. The PEL22A strain showed that the genes that regulate the bacteriophage CTXΦ, the main cause of virulence in Vibrio cholerae, were present but lack the genes for cholera toxin, ctxA and ctxB. The strain did contain hlyA gene which codes for hemolysin, an endotoxin found in most Vibrio species.

References

References

1. Orata, Fabini. (June 2011). "Isolation and sequence analysis of the full-length toxR gene of type strain ''Vibrio campbellii'' and use of the toxR gene sequence to evaluate variation and relatedness with other ''Vibrio'' species". National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
2. Phuoc, L.H.. (April 2009). "Virulence of luminescent and non-luminescent isogenic vibrios towards gnotobiotic Artemia franciscana larvae and specific pathogen-free Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp". Journal of Applied Microbiology.
3. Nijvipakul, Sarayut. (March 2008). "LuxG Is a Functioning Flavin Reductase for Bacterial Luminescence". Journal of Bacteriology.
4. Amaral, Gilda Rose S. (May 2012). "Genome Sequence of the Bacterioplanktonic, Mixotrophic Vibrio campbellii Strain PEL22A, Isolated in the Abrolhos Bank". Journal of Bacteriology.
5. Wang, Zheng. (June 2012). "Function and Regulation of Vibrio campbellii Proteorhodopsin: Acquired Phototrophy in a Classical Organoheterotroph". PLOS ONE.