High Genetic Diversity of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Tidal Water and Mud of Southern Coast of South Korea

ABSTRACT

A horizontal, fluorophore-enhanced, repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR) DNA fingerprinting technique (HFERP) was adapted to examine the genotypic richness and source differentiation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (n = 1,749) isolated from tidal water and mud of southern coast of South Korea. The number of unique genotypes observed from June (163, 51.9%), September (307, 63.9%), December (205, 73.8%), and February (136, 74.7%), indicating a high degree of genetic diversity. Contrary, lower genetic diversity was detected in April (99, 46.8%), including predominant genotypes comprised >30 V. parahaemolyticus isolates. Jackknife analysis indicated that 65.1% tidal water isolates and 87.1% mud isolates were correctly assigned to their source groups. Sixty-nine isolates of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus were clustered into two groups, separated by sampling month, source of isolation, and serogroups. Serotypes O1, O4, O5, O10/O12, and O11 were the dominant serovariants, while serotypes O3/O13 was highly detected in April where there were no pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus. Most of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates were resistant to ampicillin, ceftazidime, and sulfamethoxazole. Interestingly, four V. parahaemolyticus isolates resistant to carbepenem did not contain the known carbapenemase-encoding gene, but possess an extended-spectrum β-lactamase bla_TEM.

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