ISSN 2756-3294
African Journal of Botany ISSN: 3519-3824 Vol. 8 (3), pp. 001-012, March, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Adhesive properties of Aeromonas hydrophila strains isolated from Tunisian aquatic biotopes
Nourhène SAIDI1,2, Mejdi SNOUSSI1,3, Donatella USAI2, Stefania ZANETTI2 and Amina BAKHROUF1
1Laboratoire d’Analyse, Traitement et Valorisation des Polluants de l’Environnement et des Produits, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Rue Avicenne, Monastir, Tunisia.
2Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Sezione di Microbiologia Sperimentale e Clinica, Universita di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
3Laboratoire de Traitement et de Recyclage des Eaux. Centre de Recherches et des Technologies des eaux, Technopôle de Borj-Cédria, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisie.
Accepted 11 October, 2019
Abstract
The ability of Aeromonas hydrophila strains isolated from aquatic environment and ornamental fishes to adhere to both biotic and abiotic surfaces was evaluated. The majority of strains were able to adhere to fish skin mucus, while the fish mucus preparation exhibited a high level of anti-bacterial effect. Adhesive properties were observed between 75 and 80% of the analyzed A. hydrophila to cells (Hep-2 and Caco-2). In addition, 40% of the tested strains were invasive on the two cell lines. On Congo Red Agar, only 65% of the strains produced slime, 65% of the strains were able to form biofilm on glass tube with Crystal violet and 85% with Safranin. Most A. hydrophila strains (95%) were adhesive to polystyrene with high optical density values. These proprieties may allow the persistence to Aeromonas strains in the aquatic biotope in a free-living planctonic state or attached to biotic and abiotic surfaces.
Keywords: Adhesive capacities, Aeromonas hydrophila, biofilm, Caco-2, Hep-2 cell lines and slime production.