Declerck Priscilla, Ollevier Frans
Department of Biology, Zoological Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Methods Mol Biol. 2006;345:175-83. doi: 10.1385/1-59745-143-6:175.
The human pathogenic Legionella bacteria are found ubiquitously in natural and human-made aquatic environments as residents in biofilms, where close interactions with other microorganisms like protozoa are possible. Nosocomial legionellosis already has been linked frequently to Legionella-contaminated artificial water supplies. For this reason, a rapid and accurate detection and quantification of these bacteria in environmental and clinical samples, combined with more information about their behavior in complex microbial communities and diverse ecosystems, is of importance. More insight into the ecology of the Legionella bacteria can lead to new methods to suppress their high numbers in human-made aquatic systems. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), based on ribosomal ribonucleic acid-targeted oligonucleotide probes, combines the precision and specificity of a molecular technique with the power to visualize individual cells without prior cultivation. In this chapter, the use of FISH for the detection and quantification of Legionella in water samples and in the visualization of these bacteria inside protozoa and biofilms is described in detail.
人类致病性军团菌作为生物膜中的栖居者，普遍存在于自然和人造水生环境中，在那里它可能与原生动物等其他微生物发生密切相互作用。医院内军团菌病已频繁与受军团菌污染的人工供水系统相关联。因此，快速准确地检测和定量环境及临床样本中的这些细菌，并结合更多关于它们在复杂微生物群落和多样生态系统中行为的信息，具有重要意义。对军团菌生态学的更多了解可以带来新方法，以抑制它们在人造水生系统中的大量繁殖。基于核糖体核糖核酸靶向寡核苷酸探针的荧光原位杂交（FISH），将分子技术的精确性和特异性与无需预先培养就能可视化单个细胞的能力相结合。在本章中，将详细描述FISH用于检测和定量水样中的军团菌以及可视化原生动物和生物膜内这些细菌的方法。
