ENZYME-LABELED OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES FOR DETECTION OF THE GENES FOR THERMOSTABLE DIRECT HEMOLYSIN (TDH) AND TDH-RELATED HEMOLYSIN (TRH) OF VIBRIO-PARAHAEMOLYTICUS

Alkaline phosphatase conjugated oligonucleotide probes were developed to detect the genes (tdh and trh) coding for the thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and TDH-related hemolysin (TRH) of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Using dot blot hybridization, probes were tested with 94 clinical isolates of V. parahaemolyticus. Results agreed well with those obtained using radio-labeled recombinant DNA probes for the genes tdh and trh. Specificity and sensitivity of enzyme tdh probes for detection of the trh gene were 100 and 93%, respectively, and those of the trh probes for trh gene detection were 93 and 86%, respectively. The tdh probes also hybridized with tdh-like genes processed by all strains of V. hollisae, and some strains of V. mimicus and V. cholerae non-01, but neither tdh nor trh probes reacted with other bacterial species isolated from diarrheal stools. However, some V. parahaemolyticus strains that were negative with the enzyme trh probe hybridized weakly with a radio-labeled trh DNA fragment probe at medium stringency, and a few strains that were negative in high stringency conditions with a radio-labeled trh DNA fragment probe hybridized with the enzyme trh probe. This suggests that some strains of V. parahaemolytic may carry another gene resembling trh.