Vibrio cholerae O1 Strains of Different Ribotypes have Similar hlyA RFLP Patterns but Different Vacuolating Ability

Extensive cytoplasmic vacuolation on Vero and HeLa cells in vitro by the Vibrio cholerae pore forming toxin HlyA, has been previously reported by our group. Vibrio cholerae O1 and non-O1 pathogenic strains show differences in the potential to induce vacuolation, here we study occurring variations on vacuolating cytotoxic ability, related to changes in the nucleotide sequence of the hlyA-orf. A collection of eight toxigenic strains of V. cholerae O1 El Tor and a non-toxigenic one, all belonging to different ribotypes was tested for their vacuolating ability, and hlyA-orf similarity based on PCR and RFLPs. The strains had extremely different vacuolating capacities, those from the ribotype 2 isolated from the US Gulf Coast, showed the highest vacuolating titer (10240 dil), and the rest of the collection had considerably lower titers ranging among 40 to 360 dilutions. PCR of hlyA-orf, was performed and RFLPs were generated using seven restriction enzymes, this approach later revealed small changes of restriction maps, among the strains. The phenogram constructed from the RFLPs, showed two major branches, one of them included most of the strains, the other separates the only Mexican wild type non-O1 Vibrio cholerae. To test for vacuolating ability out of the Vibrio genetic context, the amplified hlyA-orfs from the collection of strains were cloned in pGEMT- vector system and supernatants from the recombinant E coli DH5-, showed no differences on vacuolating titers, the clones always were low producers. Results from the cloning, together with those from the phenogram indicated that the hlyA gene is mainly conserved and the differences on vacuolating activity are unrelated to minute changes seen in the hlyA-orf. Production of high vacuolating titers on Vibrio strains could be due to transcriptional regulation. Whether the high vacuolating titer would be related to increased virulence, is still to be found.