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Updated: Jul 17, 2025
Quantifying Human Norovirus Virus-like Particles Binding to Commensal Bacteria Using Flow Cytometry
Published on: April 29, 2020
Pseudomonas composti isolate from oyster digestive tissue specifically binds with norovirus GII.6 via Psl
Yongxin Yu1, Feng Han2, Mingshu Yang3
1College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation (Shanghai), Ministry of Agriculture, China.
Abstract:
Oysters are recognized as important vectors for human norovirus transmission in the environment. Whether norovirus binds to bacteria in oyster digestive tissues (ODTs) remains unknown. To shed light on this concern, ODT-54 and ODT-32, positive for histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) -like substances, were isolated from ODTs and identified as Pseudomonas composti and Enterobacter cloacae, respectively. The binding of noroviruses (GII.4 and GII.6 P domains) to bacterial cells (ODT-32 and ODT-54; in situ assay) as well as extracted extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs; in vitro assay) was analyzed by flow cytometry, confocal laser scanning microscopy, ELISA, and gene knock-out mutants. ODT-32 bound to neither GII.4 nor GII.6 P domains, while ODT-54 specifically binds with GII.6 P domain through Psl, an exopolysaccharide encoded by the polysaccharide synthesis locus (psl), identified based on gene annotation, gene transcription, Psl specific staining, and ELISAs. These findings attest that ODT bacteria specifically bind with certain norovirus genotypes in a strain-dependent manner, contributing to a better understanding of the transmission and enrichment of noroviruses in the environment.
