1. Ecology of pathogens
While most natural aquatic microbial communities are beneficial for
human and aquatic life, aquatic environments also harbor opportunistic
bacteria that are pathogenic for human or for marine life such as
Legionella in freshwaters and Vibrio species in coastal areas. Their
presence in these ecosystems can promote waterborne human infection or
diseases and mortality of marine life with dramatic consequence to
biological resources (aquaculture, fisheries, etc). A better
understanding of the ecology of specific populations in the environment
will help to predict their occurrence in aquatic ecosystems and help to
propose actions to mitigate contamination. At the LBBM we have worked in
this topic for over 10 years and studies involve investigating the
factors controlling the occurrence of environmentally viable forms of
Legionella and Vibrio involved in human and marine life diseases,
especially their viability, diversity and activity, and virulence.
Associated to these studies we developed analytical tools for the
monitoring of cells occurring many times at low concentrations (rare
events) in close collaboration with industry (i.e. EDF, VERI,
BIOMERIEUX), as well as academic partners (Laboratory IMAGE at the UPVD).
Some recently publications in this topic include
- Paniel N, Baudart J (2013) Colorimetric and electrochemical genosensors for the detection of Escherichia coli DNA without amplification in seawater. Talanta 115:133-142
- Paniel N, Baudart J, Hayat A, Barthelmebs L (2013) Aptasensor and genosensor methods for detection of microbes in real world samples. Methods 64:229-240
- Baudart J, Robyns A, Peuchet S, Drocourt JL, Lebaron P (2011) Sensitive counting of viable Enterobacteriaceae in seawaters and relationshipwith fecal indicators. J Microbiol Meth 84:482-485
- Parthuisot N, Binet M,Touron-Bodilis A, Pougnard C, Lebaron P, Baudart J (2011) Total andViable Legionella pneumophila Cells in Hot and Natural Waters asMeasured by Immunofluorescence-Based Assays and Solid-Phase Cytometry. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:6225-6232
- Parthuisot, N., N. J. West, P. Lebaron, and J. Baudart. (2010). High Diversity and Abundance of Legionella spp. in a Pristine River and Impact of Seasonal and Anthropogenic Effects. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:8201-8210.