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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 6004-6011, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00917-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Environmental Influences on Vibrio Populations in Northern Temperate and Boreal Coastal Waters (Baltic and Skagerrak Seas)

Alexander Eiler, Mona Johansson, and Stefan Bertilsson^*

Limnology/Department of Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyv. 20, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden

Received 18 April 2006/ Accepted 4 July 2006

Even if many Vibrio spp. are endemic to coastal waters, their distribution in northern temperate and boreal waters is poorly studied. To identify environmental factors regulating Vibrio populations in a salinity gradient along the Swedish coastline, we combined Vibrio-specific quantitative competitive PCR with denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis-based genotyping. The total Vibrio abundance ranged from 4 x 10³ to 9.6 x 10⁴ cells liter^–1, with the highest abundances in the more saline waters of the Skagerrak Sea. Several Vibrio populations were present throughout the salinity gradient, with abundances of single populations ranging from 5 x 10² to 7 x 10⁴ cells liter^–1. Clear differences were observed along the salinity gradient, where three populations dominated the more saline waters of the Skagerrak Sea and two populations containing mainly representatives of V. anguillarum and V. aestuarianus genotypes were abundant in the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. Our results suggest that this apparent niche separation within the genus Vibrio may also be influenced by alternate factors such as nutrient levels and high abundances of dinoflagellates. A V. cholerae/V. mimicus population was detected in more than 50% of the samples, with abundances exceeding 10³ cells liter^–1, even in the cold (annual average water temperature of around 5°C) and low-salinity (2 to 4) samples from the Bothnian Bay (latitude, 65°N). The unsuspected and widespread occurrence of this population in temperate and boreal coastal waters suggests that potential Vibrio pathogens may also be endemic to cold and brackish waters and hence may represent a previously overlooked health hazard.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Limnology/Department of Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyv. 20, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden. Phone: 46-18-4712712. Fax: 46-18-531134. E-mail: stebe{at}ebc.uu.se.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 6004-6011, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00917-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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