Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolates from Asian Green Mussel: Molecular Characteristics, Virulence and Their Inhibition by Chitooligosaccharide-Tea Polyphenol Conjugates

Fifty isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus were tested for pathogenicity, biofilm formation, motility, and antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobial activity of chitooligosaccharide (COS)-tea polyphenol conjugates against all isolates was also studied. Forty-three isolates were randomly selected from 520 isolates from Asian green mussel (Perna viridis) grown on CHROMagar(TM) Vibrio agar plate. Six isolates were acquired from stool specimens of diarrhea patients. One laboratory strain was V. parahaemolyticus PSU.SCB.16S.14. Among all isolates tested, 12% of V. parahaemolyticus carried the tdh(+)trh(−) gene and were positive toward Kanagawa phenomenon test. All of V. parahaemolyticus isolates could produce biofilm and showed relatively strong motile ability. When COS-catechin conjugate (COS-CAT) and COS-epigallocatechin-3-gallate conjugate (COS-EGCG) were examined for their inhibitory effect against V. parahaemolyticus, the former showed the higher bactericidal activity with the MBC value of 1.024 mg/mL against both pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. Most of the representative Asian green mussel V. parahaemolyticus isolates exhibited high sensitivity to all antibiotics, whereas one isolate showed the intermediate resistance to cefuroxime. However, the representative clinical isolates were highly resistant to nine types of antibiotics and had multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of 0.64. Thus, COS-CAT could be used as potential antimicrobial agent for controlling V. parahaemolyticus-causing disease in Asian green mussel.