Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Development of a More Sensitive and Specific Chromogenic Agar Medium for the Detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Other Vibrio Species
Published on: November 8, 2016
Growth of Vibrio cholerae O1 in red tide waters off California
Rosa R Mouriño-Pérez1, Alexandra Z Worden, Farooq Azam
1Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0202, USA.
Abstract:
Vibrio cholerae serotype O1 is autochthonous to estuarine and coastal waters. However, its population dynamics in such environments are not well understood. We tested the proliferation of V. cholerae N16961 during a Lingulodinium polyedrum bloom, as well as other seawater conditions. Microcosms containing 100-kDa-filtered seawater were inoculated with V. cholerae or the 0.6- micro m-pore-size filterable fraction of seawater assemblages. These cultures were diluted 10-fold with fresh 100-kDa-filtered seawater every 48 h for four cycles. Growth rates ranged from 0.3 to 14.3 day(-1) (4.2 day(-1) +/- 3.9) for V. cholerae and 0.1 to 9.7 day(-1) (2.2 +/- 2.8 day(-1)) for bacterial assemblage. Our results suggest that dissolved organic matter during intense phytoplankton blooms has the potential to support explosive growth of V. cholerae in seawater. Under the conditions tested, free-living V. cholerae was able to reach concentrations per milliliter that were up to 3 orders of magnitude higher than the known minimum infectious dose (10(4) cell ml(-1)) and remained viable under many conditions. If applicable to the complex conditions in marine ecosystems, our results suggest an important role of the growth of free-living V. cholerae in disease propagation and prevention during phytoplankton blooms.
Related Concept Videos
Stringent Response in E. coli
Red Algae
Reservoir of Infection
Botulism
Bacterial Gastroenteritis
Cholera

