Effect of starvation on survival and virulence expression of Aeromonas hydrophila from different sources

Aeromonas hydrophila is an aquatic bacterium responsible for several human illnesses. The aim of this work was to investigate the survival ability and virulence expression of two strains from different sources (fish, strain 87 and surface water, strain LS) maintained in a seawater microcosm. The strains were analyzed for the total and viable bacterial counts, adhesion ability to Hep-2 cells and aerA gene expression by qPCR throughout the experiment (35 days). Both strains reached a putative VBNC state and lost adhesive properties but exhibited a different behavior in the expression of aerA. This could be due to the different origin of the two strains; the former adapted to a habitat rich of nutrient and the latter already used to survive in a more hostile environment. Moreover, our results indicate that the quantitative determination of aerA mRNA can be a useful indicator of virulence expression under stress conditions.