Photobacterium damselae (Vibrio damsela)
Taxonomy
Morphology
Cultural characteristics
Biochemical characters
Ecology
Pathogenicity
References
Proteobacteria => Gammaproteobacteria => Vibrionales => Vibrionaceae => Vibrio =>Photobacterium damselae  Smith et al. 1991.
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Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae corrig. (Love et al. 1982) Smith et al. 1991, subsp. nov.
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Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida corrig. (ex Janssen and Surgalla 1968) Gauthier et al. 1995

Synonyms:
Vibrio damsela  Love, Teebken - Fisher, Hose, Farmer, Hickman, and Fanning 1982 (Smith et al.1991), Listonella
damsela
 MacDonell & Colwell 1985, Photobacterium histaminum Okuzumi et al. 1994, Pasteurella piscicida Janssen and Surgalla
1968.

Photobacterium histaminum Okuzumi et al. 1994 is considered a later synonym of Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae.
Subsp. damselae: Gram negative rods, sometimes motile, no swarming on solid
media.

Subsp. piscicida: Gram negative, bipolar staining, pleomorphic cells, coccoidal to
rods under different culture conditions, 1.5 x 1.0 μm, non-motile, non-flagellated.
Subsp. damselae: colonies are smooth, slightly convex, greyish or whitish, often
hemolytic on blood agar and their diameter is between 2.5 to 3 mm.
Can grow in nutrient broth with: 1% & 6% NaCl. No growth in 0%, 8%, 10% & 12%
NaCl.
Growth temperature 30 - 35 °C. No growth at 4 °C.

Subsp. piscicida: colonies are round, 1-2 mm. in diameter, glistening,convex, opaque
& viscid; capsules maybe produced. Grow on blood agar, BHI-agar, TSA
supplemented with 1 % NaCl, thiosulfate citrate bile sucrose agar & marine agar.
Unable to grow in the absence of Na+. Can grow in nutrient broth with: 1% & 2%
NaCl. No growth in 0%, 6%, 8%, 10% & 12% NaCl.
Growth temperature 20 - 35 °C. No growth at 4 or 40 °C. Facultative anaerobe, no
hemolysin production,  no luminescence.
Subsp. damselae: isolated from fish Chromis punctipinnis and marine algae (important in disease transmission to fish), sewage,
oysters & a wound culture from a racoon. Sensible to O/129 vibriostatic agent (10 & 150 µg).

Subsp. piscicida: isolated from diseased fish (
Seriola quinqueradiata, Sparus aurata, Dicentrarchus labrax), restricted to the East
Coast of North America, Japan & Mediterranean area.
Resistant to oxacillin. Variable sensivity  to vibriostatic agent O/129.
Subsp. damselae: causes skin ulcers in fish Chromis punctipinnis. Opportunistic pathogen capable of causing disease in a variety of
hosts, including sharks (Grimes et al., 1984), dolphins (Fujioka et al., 1988) and humans.

Subsp. piscicida: can be extremely virulent for fish (pasteurellosis); isolated from diseased fish (
Seriola quinqueradiata, Sparus
aurata, Dicentrarchus labrax
)
Presence of the iron uptake system and the phospholipase are important in virulence. Capsules may be produced.
  1. J.J. Farmer, M. Janda, 2004.Family I. Vibrionaceae . In:  Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Second edition,Vol two,
    part B, George M. Garrity (Editor-in-Chief),   pp. 491-546.
  2. An Thyssen , Frans Ollevier,  2004. Genus II . Photobacterium Beijerinck 1889. In:  Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology,
    Second edition,Vol two, part B, George M. Garrity (Editor-in-Chief),   pp. 546-555.
  3. J. G.Holt et al., 1994.Begey’s manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 9-edition, Williams & Wilkins.
  4. Judith A. Johnson, 2006. Vibrio. In: Topley & Wilson’s Microbiology and Microbial Infections, 10 edition, Vol. 2, Bacteriology,
    Edward Arnold Ltd., 1507-1523.
  5. Kimura, B, Hokimoto, S, Takahashi, H, Fujii, T. Photobacterium histaminum Okuzumi et al. 1994 is a later subjective synonym
    of Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae (Love et al. 1981) Smith et al. 1991. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2000 50: 1339-
    1342.
  6. A. Thyssen, L. Grisez, r. van Houdt and F. Ollever, 1998. Phenotypic characterization of the marine pathogen Photobacterium
    damselae subsp. piscicida. IJSB 48, 1145-1151
Subsp. damselae:
Positive results for methyl red (1%NaCl), Voges-Proskauer (1% NaCl), arginine (1% NaCl),
nitrate reduction to nitrite, oxidase, acid production from D-glucose, D-galactose, maltose, D-mannose & trehalose.

Negative results for indole (Heart Infusion Broth, 1% NaCl), citrate (Simmons), H
2S on TSI, urea hydrolysis, phenylalanine
deaminase, ornithine (1% NaCl), gelatin hydrolysis (1% NaCl, 22°C), gas from D-glucose, esculin hydrolysis, lipase, ONPG test, acid
production from: D-adonitol, L-arabinose, D-arabitol, cellobiose, dulcitol, glycerol, myo-inositol, lactose, D-mannitol, melibiose,
raffinose, L-rhamnose, salicin, D-sorbitol, sucrose & D-xylose.

Lysine (1% NaCl) is variable.

Subsp. piscicida can be differentiated from subsp. damselae by positive lipase production and negative nitrate reduction to nitrite and
no acid production from maltose & trehalose.
(c) Costin Stoica
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