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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Coincubation Assay for Quantifying Competitive Interactions between Vibrio fischeri Isolates
Published on: July 22, 2019
Vibrio fischeri and its host: it takes two to tango
Karen L Visick1, Edward G Ruby
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
Abstract:
The association of Vibrio fischeri and Euprymna scolopes provides insights into traits essential for symbiosis, and the signals and pathways of bacteria-induced host development. Recent studies have identified important bacterial colonization factors, including those involved in motility, bioluminescence and biofilm formation. Surprising links between symbiosis and pathogenesis have been revealed through discoveries that nitric oxide is a component of the host defense, and that V. fischeri uses a cytotoxin-like molecule to induce host development. Technological advances in this system include the genome sequence of V. fischeri, an expressed sequence tagged library for E. scolopes and the availability of dual-fluorescence markers and confocal microscopy to probe symbiotic structures and the dynamics of colonization.
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