Virulent strains of Vibrio vulnificus isolated from estuaries of the United States West Coast

Vibrio vulnificus was isolated from United States West Coast estuaries at a low frequency (5.9%) from 529 samples of water, shellfish, and sediment. Four strains tested with iron-treated mice had 50% lethal dose values ranging from 7.6 to 360 CFU, compared with a 50% lethal dose of 4.9 CFU for a clinical isolate that caused the death of a septicemic patient. The presence of this pathogen may be a hazard to users of marine beaches and consumers of raw shellfish on the West Coast, especially to persons most susceptible to V. vulnificus septicemia. Species-specific antiflagellar serum and a gene probe for cytotoxin-hemolysin production were useful for screening these environmental isolates.     

Chemotaxis by Entamoeba histolytica

A micropore membrane procedure to assay taxis by Entamoeba histolytica is described and the results of studies of responses to a variety of soluble substances, bacteria, an rat colon washings using this procedure are reported. Trophozoites migrated in blind well chambers through 8-micron pore size polycarbonate membranes but not nitrocellulose membranes up to 12 micron pore size. Amoebae were attracted toward fresh axenic culture medium (TYI-S), an enzymatic hydrolysate of casein (Trypticase), and a partially purified preparation of N-acetylneuraminic acid from egg mucin, but not purified N-acetylneuraminate or a variety of other low molecular weight metabolites. The response was verified as chemotaxis by checkerboard analysis. Amoebae migrated most dramatically toward suspensions of all of seven bacterial species tested, including motile and non-motile, gram-negative and gram-positive rods and cocci. This response was diminished when the bacteria concentration gradient was eliminated. The response to bacteria culture filtrates was less than 10% of that to bacterial suspensions. A response to clarified washings from the rat colon was detected; this was diminished but not eliminated by filter sterilization of the washings. We concluded that some soluble molecules, possibly of intermediate molecular size, whole bacteria, and both soluble and particulate components of the rat colon provide tactic stimuli for E. histolytica. Scanning electron micrographs of trophozoites migrating towards attractants through membranes showed narrow, extended pseudopodia entering the membrane pores, and enlarging spheres exiting as the cells proceeded through.     

pH and Peptide Supply Can Radically Alter Bacterial Populations and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Ratios within Microbial Communities from the Human Colon

The effects of changes in the gut environment upon the human colonic microbiota are poorly understood. The response of human fecal microbial communities from two donors to alterations in pH (5.5 or 6.5) and peptides (0.6 or 0.1%) was studied here in anaerobic continuous cultures supplied with a mixed carbohydrate source. Final butyrate concentrations were markedly higher at pH 5.5 (0.6% peptide mean, 24.9 mM; 0.1% peptide mean, 13.8 mM) than at pH 6.5 (0.6% peptide mean, 5.3 mM; 0.1% peptide mean, 7.6 mM). At pH 5.5 and 0.6% peptide input, a high butyrate production coincided with decreasing acetate concentrations. The highest propionate concentrations (mean, 20.6 mM) occurred at pH 6.5 and 0.6% peptide input. In parallel, major bacterial groups were monitored by using fluorescence in situ hybridization with a panel of specific 16S rRNA probes. Bacteroides levels increased from ca. 20 to 75% of total eubacteria after a shift from pH 5.5 to 6.5, at 0.6% peptide, coinciding with high propionate formation. Conversely, populations of the butyrate-producing Roseburia group were highest (11 to 19%) at pH 5.5 but fell at pH 6.5, a finding that correlates with butyrate formation. When tested in batch culture, three Bacteroides species grew well at pH 6.7 but poorly at pH 5.5, which is consistent with the behavior observed for the mixed community. Two Roseburia isolates grew equally well at pH 6.7 and 5.5. These findings suggest that a lowering of pH resulting from substrate fermentation in the colon may boost butyrate production and populations of butyrate-producing bacteria, while at the same time curtailing the growth of Bacteroides spp.