The Effect Of Polyamines And Biofilm Formation On Zebrafish Colonization By Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae, the intestinal pathogen responsible for the diarrheal disease cholera, is an aquatic bacterium that utilizes biofilms as an integral part of its life cycle. Biofilms are clusters of cells, which are surrounded by and contained within a matrix that is self-produced by the bacteria. These biofilms have been shown to protect bacteria from environmental stresses as well as facilitate adhesion to biotic and abiotic surfaces and are thought to aid in the transmission of V. cholerae into its hosts. It has previously been shown that polyamines play an important role in regulating biofilm formation and several genes encoding components of polyamine synthesis and transport pathways are upregulated in animal models of infection. Zebrafish have been used in previous colonization studies of V. cholerae and are established as an effective model organism. In this work, the zebrafish model was used to determine the colonization efficiency of wild-type bacteria compared to mutant strains that were deficient in regulating biofilm formation as well as in polyamine signaling, transport, and synthesis pathways. Our results suggest that several polyamines have a definite impact on the ability of V. cholerae to colonize the zebrafish intestine.