Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Symbiotic Associations Between Vibrio Cholerae And Copepods And Their Potential Public Health Impact, Gretchen Boria Pérez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Vibrio cholerae O1 concentrate in copepods by attaching to their chitinous exoskeleton and gut, making these planktonic crustaceans participants in the spread of cholera in marine and estuarine environments. The role of the symbiosis in the spread of gastrointestinal disease caused by non-O1 serotypes has not been well-studied in fresh water systems. The goal of these studies was to determine whether symbiotic association of V. cholerae with copepods affects virulence of hemolysin/cytolysin toxin, suspected in V. cholerae non-O1 related morbidity. The reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate the relative transcriptional response of hlyA, encoding hemolysin, by a non-O1 strain …