Vibrio alginolyticus explained

Vibrio alginolyticus is a Gram-negative marine bacterium.^[1] It is medically important since it causes otitis and wound infection.^[2] It is also present in the bodies of animals such as pufferfish, where it is responsible for the production of the potent neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin.^[3]

Vibrio alginolyticus are commonly found in aquatic environments. Some strains of V. alginolyticus are highly salt tolerant and commonly found in marine environment. S.I. Paul et al. (2021) isolated and identified many strains of Vibrio alginolyticus from nine marine sponges of the Saint Martin's Island Area of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh.

V. alginolyticus was first identified as a pathogen of humans in 1973. It occasionally causes eye, ear, and wound infections. It is a highly salt-tolerant species and can grow in salt concentrations of 10%. Most clinical isolates come from superinfected wounds that become contaminated at the beach. Tetracycline is typically an effective treatment. V. alginolyticus is rare cause of bacteremia in immunocompromised hosts.^[4]

Biochemical characteristics of V. alginolyticus

Colony, morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of Vibrio alginolyticus are shown in the Table below.

Test type	Test	Characteristics
Colony characters	Size	Medium
	Type	Round
	Color	Whitish
	Shape	Convex
Morphological characters	Shape	Vibrio
Physiological characters	Motility	+|-|Growth at 6.5% NaCl|+
	Biochemical characters	Gram's staining	–
Oxidase		+|-|Catalase|+
Oxidative-Fermentative		Fermentative
Motility		+|-|Methyl Red|+
Voges-Proskauer		+|-|Indole|–|-|H2S Production|–|-|Urease|–|-|Nitrate reductase|–|-|β-Galactosidase|+|-| rowspan="6" |Hydrolysis of|Gelatin|+|-|Aesculin|–|-|Casein|–|-|Tween 40|+
Tween 60		+|-|Tween 80|+
Acid production from		Glycerol	+|-|Galactose|–|-|D-Glucose|+
		D-Fructose	+|-|D-Mannose|+|-|Mannitol|+
		N-Acetylglucosamine	+|-|Amygdalin|+|-|Maltose|+|-|D-Melibiose|–|-|D-Trehalose|+
		Glycogen	+|-|D-Turanose|+

Note: + = Positive, – =Negative

External links

• Type strain of Vibrio alginolyticus at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Notes and References

1. Paul . Sulav Indra . Rahman . Md. Mahbubur . Salam . Mohammad Abdus . Khan . Md. Arifur Rahman . Islam . Md. Tofazzal . 2021-12-15 . Identification of marine sponge-associated bacteria of the Saint Martin's island of the Bay of Bengal emphasizing on the prevention of motile Aeromonas septicemia in Labeo rohita . Aquaculture . en . 545 . 737156 . 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.737156 . 0044-8486.
2. Reilly . G D . Reilly . C A . Smith . E G . Baker-Austin . C . Vibrio alginolyticus-associated wound infection acquired in British waters, Guernsey, July 2011 . Euro Surveill . 16. 42 . 2011. 10.2807/ese.16.42.19994-en . 22027377.
3. Noguchi . T . Hwang . D F . Arakawa. O . Sugita . H . Deguchi . Y . Shida . Y . Hashimoto. K . Vibrio alginolyticus, a tetrodotoxin-producing bacterium, in the intestines of the fish Fugu vermicularis vermicularis . Marine Biology . 94 . 4 . 625–630 . 1987 . 10.1007/BF00431409. 84437298 .
4. Longo, Dan, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 18th edition. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2011.