Photobacterium damselae (Vibrio damsela)
Taxonomy
Morphology
Cultural characteristics
Biochemical characters
Ecology
Pathogenicity
References
Phylum Proteobacteria, Class Gammaproteobacteria, Order Vibrionales, Family Vibrionaceae, Genus Photobacterium,
Photobacterium damselae
Smith et al. 1991. Two subspecies:
- Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae corrig. (Love et al. 1982) Smith et al. 1991, subsp. nov.,
- 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, not 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, nonmotile, nonflagellated.
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 ºC. No growth at 4 ºC.

Subsp. piscicida: colonies are round, 1-2 mm in diameter, glistening,convex, opaque
and viscid; capsules maybe produced. Grow on blood agar, BHI-agar, TSA
supplemented with 1% NaCl, thiosulfate citrate bile sucrose agar
and marine agar.
Unable to grow in the absence of Na+. Can grow in nutrient broth with: 1%
and 2%
NaCl. No growth in 0%, 6%, 8%, 10%
and 12% NaCl.
Growth temperature 20-35 ºC. No growth at 4 or 40 ºC. 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. It is an 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. Group 5 Facultatively anaerobic Gram-negative rods. Subgroup 2 Family Vibrionaceae. In: Begey’s Manual of
    Determinative Bacteriology, 9-th edition, Williams & Wilkins. pp. 190-194.
  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.
  7. Truper H.G. and De' Clari L): Taxonomic note: Necessary correction of specific epithets formed as substantives (nouns) "in
    apposition". Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 1997, 47, 908-909.
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
and 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 ºC), 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
and D-xylose.

Lysine (1% NaCl) is variable.

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