Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(11), 2384-2396; doi:10.3390/md9112384
Article

Isolation and Identification of a New Tetrodotoxin-Producing Bacterial Species, Raoultella terrigena, from Hong Kong Marine Puffer Fish Takifugu niphobles

Vincent Chung-Him Yu 1 email, Peter Hoi-Fu Yu 1 email, Kin-Chung Ho 2 email and Fred Wang-Fat Lee 2,* email
1 Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China 2 School of Science and Technology, The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 24 September 2011; in revised form: 3 November 2011 / Accepted: 4 November 2011 / Published: 14 November 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tetrodotoxin)
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Abstract: Puffer fish, Takifugu niphobles, collected from the Hong Kong coastal waters were screened for tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria. A Gram-negative, non-acid-fast, non-sporing and rod shaped bacterial strain (designated as gutB01) was isolated from the intestine of the puffer fish and was shown to produce tetrodotoxin (TTX). Based on the Microbial Identification (MIDI) and 16S-23S rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) phylogenetic analysis, the strain was identified as Raoultella terrigena. The TTX production ability of the strain was confirmed by mouse bioassay, ELISA and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). Our results reiterate that the TTX found in puffer fish was likely produced by the associated bacteria and TTX are widely produced amongst a diversity of bacterial species.
Keywords: tetrodotoxin; TTX-producing bacteria; Raoultella terrigena; Takifugu niphobles

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MDPI and ACS Style

Yu, V.-H.; Yu, P.-F.; Ho, K.-C.; Lee, F.-F. Isolation and Identification of a New Tetrodotoxin-Producing Bacterial Species, Raoultella terrigena, from Hong Kong Marine Puffer Fish Takifugu niphobles . Mar. Drugs 2011, 9, 2384-2396.

AMA Style

Yu V-H, Yu P-F, Ho K-C, Lee F-F. Isolation and Identification of a New Tetrodotoxin-Producing Bacterial Species, Raoultella terrigena, from Hong Kong Marine Puffer Fish Takifugu niphobles . Marine Drugs. 2011; 9(11):2384-2396.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yu, Vincent Chung-Him; Yu, Peter Hoi-Fu; Ho, Kin-Chung; Lee, Fred Wang-Fat. 2011. "Isolation and Identification of a New Tetrodotoxin-Producing Bacterial Species, Raoultella terrigena, from Hong Kong Marine Puffer Fish Takifugu niphobles ." Mar. Drugs 9, no. 11: 2384-2396.

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