A molecular and phenotypic study of Vibrio cholerae in Iran

• Published in: Journal of medical microbiology Vol. 51; no. 5; pp. 392 - 398
• Main Authors: POURSHAFIE, M, GRIMONT, F, KOHESTANI, S, GRIMONT, P.A. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.05.2002; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Cholera - microbiology; Cholera Toxin - genetics; Conjugation, Genetic; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genotype; Humans; Iran; Microbiology; Phenotype; Plasmids - analysis; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ribotyping; Serotyping; Vibrio cholerae - classification; Vibrio cholerae - drug effects; Vibrio cholerae - genetics; Iran; Asia; Human; Pulsed field electrophoresis; Phenotype; Ribotype; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Vibrio cholerae; Molecular epidemiology; Bacteria; Vibrionaceae; Genotype; Clinical isolate
• ISSN: 0022-2615; 1473-5644
• DOI: 10.1099/0022-1317-51-5-392

Department of Bacteriology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran and *Institut Pasteur, Unite des Enterobacteries, Unite INSERM 389, 75724, Paris Cedex 15, France Corresponding author: Dr M. Pourshafie (e-mail: pour62{at}yahoo.com ). Received 22 June 2001; revised version accepted 29 Nov. 2001. Abstract Vibrio cholerae is again the subject of attention on account of the current increase in the world-wide incidence of cholera. In this study, 200 clinical isolates of V. cholerae serotypes O1 and non-O1, non-O139, were collected from different provinces in Iran. The isolates were subjected to biochemical analysis, antibiogram, PCR of toxin genes, plasmid profile, ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The analysis of plasmid content showed that 33–96% of V. cholerae isolated from different provinces carry a large plasmid. PCR analysis of V. cholerae O1 showed that the genes encoding cholera toxin ( ctx ), toxin co-regulated pilus ( tcp ), accessory cholera enterotoxin ( ace ) and zonula occludens toxin ( zot ) were present in 55–97% of isolates in different provinces. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of Bgl I-digested DNA probed with five oligonucleotides revealed three different ribotype patterns in isolates of V. cholerae O1. The ribotype pattern B21 of V. cholerae O1 El Tor was found to be the predominant pattern in the isolates studied. V. cholerae non-O1, non-O139 isolates showed a single ribotype pattern. PFGE analysis also showed 10 different patterns amongst the isolates, 9 of which were in V. cholerae O1. Overall, the analysis of polymorphism of ribotypes and PFGE patterns of the isolates showed that the provinces in Iran were affected by a limited number of clones of V. cholerae O1 and non-O1, non-O139 strains.