Molecular tools in understanding the evolution of Vibrio cholerae

Abstract

Vibrio cholerae, the etiological agent of cholera, has been a scourge for centuries. Cholera remains a serious health threat for developing countries and has been responsible for millions of deaths globally over the past 200 years. Identification of V. cholerae has been accomplished using a variety of methods, ranging from phenotypic strategies to DNA based molecular typing and currently whole genomic approaches. This array of methods has been adopted in epidemiological investigations, either singly or in the aggregate, and more recently for evolutionary analyses of V. cholerae. Because the new technologies have been developed at an ever increasing pace, this review of the range of fingerprinting strategies, their relative advantages and limitations, and cholera case studies was undertaken. The task was challenging, considering the vast amount of the information available. To assist the study, key references representative of several areas of research are provided with the intent to provide readers with a comprehensive view of recent advances in the molecular epidemiology of V. cholerae. Suggestions for ways to obviate many of the current limitations of typing techniques are also provided. In summary, a comparative report has been prepared that includes the range from traditional typing to whole genomic strategies.

Selective and Efficient Elimination of Vibrio cholerae with a Chemical Modulator that Targets Glucose Metabolism

“…The O139 serotype strains have also caused major endemic cholera (Barrett and Blake, 1981; Banerjee et al, 2014). Furthermore, O5 and O37 serogroups (referred to as non-O1/non-O139) have caused devastating cholera outbreaks in Czechoslovakia and Sudan, respectively (Aldová et al, 1968; Yamaichi et al, 1999; Rahaman et al, 2015). Given the diverse serotypes that show important clinical relevance, we investigated whether iMAC treatment causes similar glucose-dependent effects on viability in diverse V. cholerae strains.…”

Building Infectious Disease Research Programs to Promote Security and Enhance Collaborations with Countries of the Former Soviet Union

“…The POE called for the investigators conducting work at the CPHR to address the complexity of the microbial world and to utilize assays relevant to the problems of concern. While classical phenotypic-based assays have limitations with respect to sensitivity, accuracy, and safety, their results are still considered meaningful ( 4 ); molecular assays are highly discriminatory but must be validated and shown to be clearly related to the pathogenic phenotype ( 5 ). The array of markers that define pathogenicity is complex and not completely understood, but it is clear that any one marker cannot determine biological activity of the agent.…”

Vibrio cholerae embraces two major evolutionary traits as revealed by targeted gene sequencing

“…Relatedness and differences among V . cholerae isolates have been investigated by several molecular fingerprinting methods for a prolonged duration 17 . Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) has been used frequently for typing of the O1 and O139 serogroups of V .…”

“…cholerae 18 , 19 . Although PFGE is highly reproducible and its discriminatory power is sufficiently high, it is laborious, and is limited with regard to intra- and inter- laboratory comparison compared to sequence-based methods 17 , 20 . Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) overcomes the poor portability of traditional and older molecular typing approaches 20 .…”