Correlation between production of acyl homoserine lactones and proteases in an Aeromonas hydrophila aroA live vaccine.

Aeromonas hydrophila is a pathogen that causes disease in a wide range of homeothermic and poikilothermic hosts due to its multifactorial virulence. We have previously described the characterisation and use of an auxotrophic aroA mutant of the A. hydrophila AG2 strain as a live attenuated vaccine against A. hydrophila infections in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). In this study we report the expression of extracellular proteolytic activities and of quorum-sensing molecules by this mutant grown under different culture conditions, and in vaccine inocula. The aroA strain expresses extracellular proteases efficiently during in vitro growth and this ability is retained in vaccine inocula that were prepared by washing the bacterial cultures and resuspending the cells in phosphate-buffered saline. Since proteases are considered to be major bacterial antigens, the expression of these enzymes in the live attenuated vaccine may contribute to the superior protection afforded by these kind of vaccines. On the other hand, the production of serine- and metalloprotease activities in A. hydrophila has been described as controlled in a cell density-dependent fashion, through a mechanism known as quorum sensing. A microtiter method was developed that allowed correlation of the production of quorum-sensing molecules and of proteases produced by the aroA strain during in vitro growth and in the vaccine inocula. The production of both products was related to the type of culture medium and conditions used to grow the aroA mutant, whereas there was no correlation between the concentration of acyl homoserine lactones and protease production.