Vibrio

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Vibrio

Vibrio is a genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
bacteria

Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
possessing a curved rod shape. Typically found in saltwater

Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%, or 35 parts per thousand . This means that every 1 kg of seawater has approximately 35 grams of sea salt ....
, Vibrio are facultative anaerobes

Facultative anaerobic organism

A facultative anaerobic organism is an organism, usually a bacterium, that makes Adenosine triphosphate by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present but is also capable of switching to Fermentation ....
that test positive for oxidase

Oxidase

An oxidase is any enzyme that catalyst an redox reaction involving molecular oxygen as the electron acceptor. In these reactions, oxygen is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide ....
and do not form spores. All members of the genus are motile

Motility

Motility is a biology term which refers to the ability to move spontaneously and actively, consuming energy in the process. It can apply to either single-celled or multicellular organisms....
and have polar flagella

Flagellum

A flagellum is a tail-like structure that projects from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and it functions in locomotion....
with sheaths. Recent phylogenies have been constructed based on a suite of genes (multi-locus sequence analysis).

Pathogenic strains
Several species of Vibrio include clinically important human pathogens.

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Encyclopedia

Vibrio is a genus

Genus

Gram-negative

Bacteria

Seawater

Facultative anaerobic organism

Oxidase

Motility

Flagellum

Pathogenic strains

Several species of Vibrio include clinically important human pathogens. Most disease causing strains are associated with gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, involving both the stomach and the small intestine and resulting in acute diarrhea....
but can also infect open wounds and cause septicemia. It can be carried by numerous sea living animals, such as crabs or prawns, and has been known to cause fatal infections in humans during exposure. Pathogenic Vibrio include V. cholerae
Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae is a motile gram negative curved-rod shaped bacterium with a polar flagellum that causes cholera in humans. V. cholerae and other species of the genus Vibrio belong to the gamma subdivision of the Proteobacteria....
(the causative agent of cholera

Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
), V. parahaemolyticus
Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a curved, rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium found in brackish Seawater, which, when ingested, causes bacterial gastroenteritis in humans....
, and V. vulnificus
Vibrio vulnificus

'Vibrio vulnificus' is a species of Gram-negative, motile, curved, rod-shaped Bacterium in the genus Vibrio. Present in marine environments such as Estuary, brackish ponds, or coastal areas, V....
. Vibrio cholerae
Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae is a motile gram negative curved-rod shaped bacterium with a polar flagellum that causes cholera in humans. V. cholerae and other species of the genus Vibrio belong to the gamma subdivision of the Proteobacteria....
is generally transmitted via contaminated water. Pathogenic Vibrio can cause food poisoning

Food poisoning

Food poisoning refers to the presentation of acute illness due to the ingestion of food. It can lead to infectious diarrhea.The term usually includes:...
, usually associated with eating undercooked seafood.

Vibrio vulnificus
Vibrio vulnificus

'Vibrio vulnificus' is a species of Gram-negative, motile, curved, rod-shaped Bacterium in the genus Vibrio. Present in marine environments such as Estuary, brackish ponds, or coastal areas, V....
outbreaks commonly occur in warm climates and small, generally lethal, outbreaks occur regularly. An outbreak occurred in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and several lethal cases occur most years in Florida.

V. parahaemolyticus is also associated with the Kanagawa phenomenon, in which strains isolated from human hosts

Host (biology)

In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a virus or parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter....
(clinical isolates) are hemolytic

Hemolysis

Hemolysis ?from the Greek Hemo-, Greek language meaning blood, -lysis, meaning to break open?is the breaking open of red blood cells and the release of hemoglobin into the surrounding fluid ....
on blood agar plates, while those isolated from non-human sources are non-hemolytic.

Many Vibrio are also zoonotic. They cause disease in fish and shellfish, and are common causes of mortality among domestic marine life.

Other strains

Vibrio fischeri
Vibrio fischeri

Vibrio fischeri is a gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium found globally in the ocean environments. V. fischeri has bioluminescence properties, and is found predominantly in symbiosis with various marine animals, such as the bobtail squid....
, Photobacterium phosphoreum
Photobacterium phosphoreum

Photobacterium phosphoreum or Vibrio phosphoreum is a Gram-negative bioluminescence bacterium living in symbiosis with marine organisms. It can emit bluish-green light thanks to a chemical reaction between Flavin mononucleotide, luciferin and molecular oxygen catalysed by an enzyme called Luciferase....
, and V. harveyi are notable for their ability to communicate. Both V. fischeri and Ph. phosphoreum are symbiotes

Symbiosis

The term symbiosis commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. The term was first used in 1879 by the Germany mycology Heinrich Anton de Bary, who defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms"....
of other marine organisms (typically jellyfish

Jellyfish

Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the Scyphozoa , Staurozoa , Cubozoa , and Hydrozoa ....
, fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, or squid

Squid

Squid are marine cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, Symmetry #Bilateral_symmetry, a mantle , and cephalopod arms....
), and produce light via bioluminescence

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy....
through the mechanism of quorum sensing

Quorum sensing

Quorum sensing is a type of decision-making process used by decentralized groups to coordinate behavior. Many species of bacteria use quorum sensing to coordinate their gene expression according to the local density of their population....
. Vibrio harveyi
Vibrio harveyi

'Vibrio harveyi' is a species of Gram-negative, bioluminescence, marine bacteria in the genus Vibrio. Ecology similar to Vibrio fischeri, V....
is a pathogen of several aquatic animals and notable as a cause of luminous vibriosis in shrimps (prawns) .

Flagella

The "typical", early-discovered vibrio such as V. cholerae have a single polar flagellum (monotrichous) with sheath. Some species such as V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus have both a single polar flagellum with sheath and thin flagella projecting in all directions (peritrichous), and the other species such as V. fischeri have tufts of polar flagella with sheath (lophotrichous).

Vibrio

Pathogenic strains

Other strains

Flagella

See also

External links