Taxonomic characterization was performed on the putative N(2)-fixing microbiota associated with the coral species Mussismilia hispida, and with its sympatric species Palythoa caribaeorum, P. variabilis, and Zoanthus solanderi, off the coast of São Sebastião (São Paulo State, Brazil). The 95 isolates belonged to the Gammaproteobacteria according to the 16S rDNA gene sequences. In order to identi...

Vibrio harveyi is a marine bacterial pathogen responsible for episodic epidemics generally associated with massive mortalities in many marine organisms, including the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata. The aim of this study was to identify the portal of entry and the dynamics of infection of V. harveyi in the European abalone. The results indicate that the duration of contact between V. har...

BACKGROUND The light-emitting Vibrios provide excellent material for studying the interaction of cellular communication with growth rate because bioluminescence is a convenient marker for quorum sensing. However, the use of bioluminescence as a marker is complicated because bioluminescence itself may affect growth rate, e.g. by diverting energy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The marker effec...

The linear correlation between the EC50 values of 50 substances obtained in luminescence bioassays using Vibrio fischeri and Vibrio harveyi and in a fluorogenic bioassay using Escherichia coli was investigated. As a result, a significant correlation was found between the said values in all three toxicity tests. The bioassay using V. harveyi had a sensitivity similar to that of the fluorogenic b...

Bioluminescent bacteria require myristic acid (C14:0) to produce the myristaldehyde substrate of the light-emitting luciferase reaction. Since both endogenous and exogenous C14:0 can be used for this purpose, the metabolism of exogenous fatty acids by luminescent bacteria has been investigated. Both Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio fischeri incorporated label from [1-14C]myristic acid (C14:0) into pho...

Isolation of autochthonous bacteria from marine sources as a potential probiont in biocontroling against pathogenic Vibrio species in the shrimp culture industry was the aim of current research. A total of 198 bacterial strains were isolated from pond water, sediment, hepatopancreas and gut samples of shrimps after culturing the samples on Tryptic Soy Agar and incubated at 30 °C for 24-48 h. Th...

Quorum-sensing bacteria communicate with extracellular signal molecules called autoinducers. This process allows community-wide synchronization of gene expression. A screen for additional components of the Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio cholerae quorum-sensing circuits revealed the protein Hfq. Hfq mediates interactions between small, regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) and specific messenger RNA (mRNA) targets...

There currently is more and more interest in the use of natural products, such as tea polyphenols, as therapeutic agents. The polyphenol compound pyrogallol has been reported before to inhibit quorum-sensing-regulated bioluminescence in Vibrio harveyi. Here, we report that the addition of 10 mg · liter(-1) pyrogallol protects both brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) and giant river prawn (Macrob...

Three pleiotropic, quorum sensing-defective Vibrio harveyi mutants were observed to precipitate soluble Pb2+ as an insoluble compound. The compound was purified and subjected to X-ray diffraction and elemental analyses. These assays identified the precipitated compound as Pb9(PO4)6, an unusual and complex lead phosphate salt that is produced synthetically at temperatures of ca. 200 degrees C. R...