The influence of riboflavin and nicotinic acid on Shigella sonnei colony conversion

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Shigella, causative of bacillary dysentery, has two colony forms. The loss of large virulence plasmid from virulent Shigella sonnei form I, during cell storage and subculturing, lead to avirulent form II. Environmental factors, e.g. culture media composition, could affect the conversion of the bacterial forms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, some components, i.e., B-complex vitamins, nicotinic acid and riboflavin, were added to the bacterial culture medium and their influence on colony conversion were examined. RESULTS: The findings revealed that colony conversion is temperature independent and growth on the SS agar did not stabilize the bacterium in form I. Also, the findings showed that colonies on the minimal media supplemented with nicotinic acid and riboflavin, were stable in form I. In addition, according to the findings, the active OxyR has potential binding sites upstream of two genes involved in the replication of large virulence plasmid and expression of O-polysaccharide, i.e., repB and wbgT, respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of the present study, it is possible that nicotinic acid and riboflavin activate the transcriptional regulatory protein OxyR via dropping off the intracellular reducing power and in this way stabilize the colonies in form I.