AUTHOR=Ashrafudoulla Md. , Mizan Md. Furkanur Rahaman , Park Heedae , Byun Kye-Hwan , Lee Nari , Park Si Hong , Ha Sang-Do 

TITLE=Genetic Relationship, Virulence Factors, Drug Resistance Profile and Biofilm Formation Ability of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated From Mussel

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00513

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.00513

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The objective of this study was to investigate the virulence factors, genetic relationship, antibiotic resistance profile and the biofilm formation ability of <italic>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</italic> isolates on shrimp and mussel surfaces at 30°C. In this study, eight (<italic>n</italic> = 8) <italic>V. parahaemolyticus</italic> isolated from mussel were examined. We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to examine the distribution of different genes, and Repetitive Extragenic Palindromic-PCR (REP-PCR) to compare the genetic relationship. Disk diffusion technique was used to assess antibiotic and multiple-antibiotic resistance. The biofilm formation assay, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used to evaluate biofilm formation ability. Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) was used to observe the morphological structure of bacterial cell. Our results indicated that the biofilm-associated genes, 16S rRNA, <italic>toxR</italic>, and <italic>tdh</italic>, were present in all the tested <italic>V. parahaemolyticus</italic> isolates (<italic>n</italic> = 8). Approximately, 62.5% (5 isolates among 8 isolates) isolates showed strong multiple-antibiotic resistance index with an average value of 0.56. All isolates (<italic>n</italic> = 8) showed strong genetic relationship and significant biofilm formation ability on shrimp and mussel surfaces. This study demonstrated that the presence of virulence factors, high multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) values, and effective biofilm formation ability of <italic>V. parahaemolyticus</italic> isolates could be a great threat to human health and economic values in future. It was also suggested that a high resistance rate to antibiotic could be ineffective for treating <italic>V. parahaemolyticus</italic> infections. The continuous monitoring of <italic>V. parahaemolyticus</italic> antibiotic, molecular and biofilm characteristics is needed to increase seafood safety.</p>