Environmental role of pathogenic traits in Vibrio cholerae

S Nazmus Sakib; Geethika Reddi; Salvador Almagro-Moreno

doi:10.1128/JB.00795-17

Environmental role of pathogenic traits in Vibrio cholerae

J Bacteriol. 2018 Mar 26;200(15):e00795-17. doi: 10.1128/JB.00795-17. Online ahead of print.

Authors

S Nazmus Sakib¹, Geethika Reddi¹, Salvador Almagro-Moreno^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
² Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA. samoreno@ucf.edu.
³ National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.

Abstract

Vibrio cholerae is a natural inhabitant of aquatic ecosystems. Some strains of V. cholerae can colonize the human host and cause cholera, a profuse watery diarrhea. The major pathogenicity factors and virulence regulators of V. cholerae are either encoded in mobile genetic elements acquired in the environment (e.g. pathogenicity islands or lysogenic phages) or in the core genome. Several lines of evidence indicate that the emergence of numerous virulence traits of V. cholerae occurred in its natural environment due to biotic and abiotic pressures. Here, we discuss the connection between the human host and the potential ecological role of these virulent traits. Unraveling these connections will help us understand the emergence of this organism and other facultative bacterial pathogens.