Ecological dynamics of marine luminous bacteria

Abstract

Marine luminous bacteria are heterotrophic, Gram negative microorganisms which continuously emit light. Eight species of luminous bacteria have been described belonging to three different genera, viz. Phorohncreriirni. Vihrio and A~/WOW{JMIS. In this review we report on the distribution of luminous procaryotes in abiotic and biotic components of the marine environment and the interactions among them.Marine luminous bacteria are heterotrophic, gram negative, oxidase positive, facultatively anaerobic, motile rods which emit light continuously. They are ecologically versatile and enjoy more than one life style occurring as free living forms, epiphytes, saprophytes, parasites, symbionts in the light organs of fish and squids and commensals in the gut of various marine organisms.Eight species of luminous bacteria falling under three genera have been reported so h r from the world oceans. They are Plzotobacterium Ieiognntlii, P. plzosphoreum, Vibrio hnrveyi, I/. fisclzeri, V. iogei, V. spendidus biovar. I, V. orientalis and Alteromonus hanedui.Ecology of these microbes is interesting as well as intriguing because. i) They enjoy a variety of life styles such as free living, commensal and symbiotic etc. ii) Some species exhibit restricted and not uniform distribution, for eg. P. Ieiognatlzi is present only in the light organ of leiognathids whereas V. jischeri is symbiotic in the light organ of monocentrids. This type of species specific association is unique.iii) They were reported to exibit seasonal variation in distribution in some environments. iv) Strains of the same species differ in physiological traits depending on the environmental niche from which they are isolated. v) Not many geographical areas have been systematically explored to study their distribution patterns.Given the mounting evidences on their ecological versatility (HASTINGS and NEALSON 1981), role in sea food spoilage (MORII ef al. 1986), detection of toxic substances in the aquatic environment (BULICH 1982, DESILSTRATY 1984, determination of antibiotic activities in dairy and pharmaceutical industries (ULITZUR 1986) and even for catching fish using immobilized luminous bacterial cells (MAKIGUCHI et al. 1980), a comprehensive information on the ecological associations of luminous procaryotes is essential to elucidate the ecological dynamics of these bacteria. With this objective, the distribution of luminous bacteria in abiotic and biotic components of the marine environment and the interactions among them are reviewed here.Bacterial luminescence has been reviewed earlier by NEALSON and HASTINGS (1979), 44 J. Bacic Microbiol 30 (1990) 9

Antimicrobial resistance profile and resistance genes of Vibrio species isolated from giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) raised in Iran

“…Vibrio is a Gram-negative halophilic bacterium found abundantly in marine and estuarine environments (Ramesh et al, 1990;Thompson et al, 2004;Khamesipour et al, 2014;Raissy et al, 2014). Among the different species, Vibrio parahaemolyticus has emerged as an important pathogen for M. rosenbergii (Khuntia et al, 2008).…”

Bioluminescent Bacteria as Indicators of Chemical Contamination of Coastal Waters

“…In these studies salinity and temperature apparently explained the largest fraction of the variability in the BLR and when these variables were accounted for, the BLR index could be used to differentiate sites known to be affected by human activity. Since bioluminescence is considered to be a property of a relatively small group of obligate marine proteobacteria (Ramesh et al, 1990; Hastings and Nealson, 1981), the fluctuation of BLR with normal environmental variation likely reflects seasonal differences in the composition of the bacterial communities.…”

Phenotypic characterization of culturable marine luminous bacteria isolated from coastal waters of the southern Adriatic Sea (Otranto, Italy)

“…They often associate with living and non-living marine organisms and colonize marine animals as saprophytes, commensals, and parasites (Ramesh et al 1990, Abraham and Palaniappan 2004, Liu et al 2004, Dunlap and Kita-Tsukamoto 2006, Stabili et al 2008, Nyholm et al 2009). Certain bioluminescent species have been identified…”

“…Las BL marinas han sido aisladas de agua de mar como células de vida libre o adheridas al sedimento y detrito (Reichelt y Baumann 1973, Ramesh et al 1990), y se distribuyen ampliamente en ambientes costeros someros y aguas pelágicas profundas. Frecuentemente se asocian con organismos marinos vivos y no vivos, y colonizan animales marinos como saprófitos, comensales y parásitos (Ramesh et al 1990, Abraham y Palaniappan 2004, Liu et al 2004, Dunlap y KitaTsukamoto 2006, Stabili et al 2008, Nyholm et al 2009).…”

“…Frecuentemente se asocian con organismos marinos vivos y no vivos, y colonizan animales marinos como saprófitos, comensales y parásitos (Ramesh et al 1990, Abraham y Palaniappan 2004, Liu et al 2004, Dunlap y KitaTsukamoto 2006, Stabili et al 2008, Nyholm et al 2009). Se han identificado algunas especies bioluminescentes como Phenotypic characterization of culturable marine luminous bacteria isolated from coastal waters of the southern Adriatic Sea (Otranto, Italy) Caracterización fenotípica de bacterias luminosas marinas cultivables aisladas de aguas costeras del sur del mar Adriático (Otranto, Italia) F Bagordo as species-specific symbionts of marine fish and squids, in which they are concentrated in highly specialized lightemitting organs (Nealson and Hastings 1992, Dunlap and Kita-Tsukamoto 2006, Abraham and Palaniappan 2004, Liu et al 2004, Stabili et al 2008, Nyholm et al 2009).…”