Oliver J D, Nilsson L, Kjelleberg S
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte 28223.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1991 Sep;57(9):2640-4. doi: 10.1128/aem.57.9.2640-2644.1991.
Entry into the viable but nonculturable state by the human bacterial pathogen Vibrio vulnificus in artificial seawater microcosms was studied. In contrast to the long-term culturability exhibited by cells incubated under these starvation conditions at room temperature, cells exposed to a temperature downshift to 5 degrees C exhibited an immediate decrease in culturability. Cells incubated at low temperature exhibited a morphological change from rods to cocci but demonstrated no reductive division. Of 10 factors studied which might affect the nonculturable response in V. vulnificus, only the physiological age of the cells was found to significantly affect the rate at which cells became nonculturable. The nonculturable response appears to be related to the starvation response, as prestarvation at room temperature for 24 h was found to eliminate the nonculturable response of cells subsequently incubated at 5 degrees C. This observation suggests that the synthesis of starvation proteins may repress the viable but nonculturable program displayed during low-temperature incubation. The possible ecological significance of these findings is discussed.
对人类细菌性病原菌创伤弧菌在人工海水微宇宙中进入活的但不可培养状态进行了研究。与在室温下这些饥饿条件下培养的细胞所表现出的长期可培养性相反，暴露于温度降至5摄氏度的细胞可培养性立即下降。在低温下培养的细胞表现出从杆状到球菌的形态变化，但未显示出减数分裂。在研究的可能影响创伤弧菌不可培养反应的10个因素中，仅发现细胞的生理年龄会显著影响细胞变为不可培养的速率。不可培养反应似乎与饥饿反应有关，因为发现在室温下预饥饿24小时可消除随后在5摄氏度下培养的细胞的不可培养反应。这一观察结果表明，饥饿蛋白的合成可能会抑制低温培养期间显示的活的但不可培养程序。讨论了这些发现可能的生态意义。
