Zebrafish Models for Pathogenic Vibrios

Abstract

Vibrio is a large and diverse genus of bacteria, of which most are nonpathogenic species found in the aquatic environment. However, a subset of the Vibrio genus includes several species that are highly pathogenic, either to humans or to aquatic animals. In recent years, Danio rerio, commonly known as the zebrafish, has emerged as a major animal model used for studying nearly every aspect of biology, including infectious diseases. Zebrafish are especially useful because the embryos are transparent, larvae are small and facilitate imaging studies, and numerous transgenic fish strains have been constructed. Zebrafish models for several pathogenic Vibrio species have been described, and indeed a fish model is highly relevant for the study of aquatic bacterial pathogens. Here, we summarize the zebrafish models that have been used to study pathogenic Vibrio species to date.

Keywords: Vibrio; animal models; bacterial pathogenesis; zebrafish.

FIG 1

General procedure for inoculation of zebrafish with V. cholerae by passive immersion to model disease in a natural host. Initially described by Runft et al. (44) and further developed by Mitchell et al. (45) and Nag et al. (64).