Abstract

ECOLOGICAL AND QUORUM SENSING POTENTIAL OF VIBRIO SP. FROM PRAWN FARMS OF TAMIL NADU COASTAL REGIONS

Srinath Naganathan*, Meenu Muruganandam, and Vignesh Venkatesan

ABSTRACT

Marine as source of living and non-living materials helped to develop many self-employment mainly prawn and shrimp farms in India. The aim of our study was to understand the ecological levels of Vibrio sp. in these prawn farms and to estimate the level of antibacterial activity against commonly used antibiotics to determining their quorum sensing activity. We had isolated organisms using sea water source used in cultivation farms of nine different areas in the coastal region of Tamil Nadu, India from December 2009 to February 2010 and isolated around 29 isolates of Vibrio sp. using Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Salt Sucrose Agar (TCBS) medium. Microbiological analysis of these isolated microbes were carried out and tested for antibiotic susceptibility test against various antibiotics used commonly in the medical treatment and found that based on the antibiotics like trimethoprim, co-trimoxazole and tetracycline were resistant for most of the organisms. To understand the quorum sensing principles of these microbes, the primary studies of minimum inhibitory concentration were performed for having a greater view towards their antibiotic resistance and to precede further investigation in their molecular mechanism involved for their pathogenesis.

Keywords: Vibrio sp., Antibiotic susceptibility test, Quorum Sensing, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration.