CHARACTERIZATION OF VIBRIO-VULNIFICUS ISOLATED FROM COCKLES (ANADARA-GRANOSA) - ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE, PLASMID PROFILES AND RANDOM AMPLIFICATION OF POLYMORPHIC DNA ANALYSIS

Antibiotic susceptibility, plasmid profiles and random amplification o f polymorphic DNA (RAPD) were used to study strains of Vibrio vulnific us isolated from cockles (Anadara granosa). Thirty-six isolates were a nalyzed. The prevalent biotypes were 1 (72.2% of the isolates) and 2 ( 27.8%). Among these, 21 strains of biotype 1 and two strains of biotyp e 2 contained plasmid DNA bands ranging in size from 1.4 to 9.7 MDa. T hirty-one (83.3%) were found to be resistant to one or more of the ant imicrobial agents tested; however no specific correlation between anti microbial resistance patterns and a single biotype was found. In addit ion, no particular plasmid profile was predictive of a particular patt ern of antibiotic susceptibility. Two primers produced polymorphisms i n all strains tested; producing bands ranging from 0.25 to 2.7 kb, ind icating a high variability among both biotype 1 and biotype 2 of the V . vulnificus strains investigated. RAPD identity across biotypes was a lso observed among Vibrio vulnificus strains. (C) 1998 Federation of E uropean Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.