Abstract
In this study, we incubated four strains of Shigella in seawater microcosms (at room temperature and at 4°C) for eight months and we studied the alteration of their morphologic and outer membranes proteins. The starved cells showed an evolution to the filterable minicells state capable to pass membrane pore size 0.45 µm. In addition, the atomic force micrographs showed a reduction of the cells size and an evolution to coccoid-shapes. Outer membrane proteins patterns of stressed bacteria did not changed too much and these modifications were manifested by the appearance of one new band. Key words: Shigella, seawater, starvation, morphological, outer membrane proteins.
Highlights
Bacillary dysentery is an acute inflammatory bowel disease caused by the enteroinvasive bacteria Shigella, leading to a condition known as shigellosis (Hale, 1998)
The starvation survival of Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp. and Salmonella typhimurium is dependent on differential protein synthesis (Nystrom et al, 1990; Sepector and Cubitt, 1992; Morton and Oliver, 1994)
After one eight of starvation in seawater, all the studied strains produced a filterable minicells through membranes pore size 0.45 μm
Summary
Bacillary dysentery is an acute inflammatory bowel disease caused by the enteroinvasive bacteria Shigella, leading to a condition known as shigellosis (Hale, 1998). Shigella are Gram-negative bacteria that have the ability to invade the colonic and rectal epithelium in humans, causing the acute mucosal inflammation that characterizes the disease. Bacteria pass through the stomach and the small intestine before reaching the colon where they invade the mucosa, initiating the acute destructive rectocolitis that causes the dysenteric symptoms: fever, intestinal cramps, and emission of mucopurulent and bloody stools. Many factors such as the 220 kbp plasmid, invasive plasmid antigens, antioxidant enzymes, lipopolysaccharides, and outer membrane proteins (OMPs) contribute to its virulence (Raja et al, 2008). There is evidence that the degradation of existing proteins may be a major source of amino acids utilized for protein synthesis during
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