MOLECULAR CHARACTERISATION OF VIBRIO SPECIES FROM UNILAG LAGOON AND MTU POND

Abstract

Water being a necessity in our everyday lives and the major habitat of Vibrio species, Vibrio spp are the most common genera associated with water, human and even crustaceans often causing significant economic losses. Vibrios are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment and are commonly present in or on shellfish and other seafood or other environmentally related food or water sources. In this study two water samples were collected from two different locations (MTU pond and UNILAG lagoon) and plated on 50 different plates this was examined for the presence and absence of Vibrio species. The water samples were enriched into alkaline peptone water then inoculated into Thiosulfate citrate bile salt sucrose (TCBS) agar medium. After incubation of the 50 TCBS plates for 24hrs at 370C, the colonies were screened out for biochemical identification and confirmed using 16S rRNA PCRs. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first study done on determining the presence of potential Vibrio species in MTU pond but research has already been done on the UNILAG lagoon. This study has found that Vibrio species are present in this study areas, as four of our isolates tested positive after the 16S rRNA was done. The highly conserved 16S rRNA (rrs) gene is generally used for bacterial identification. In conclusion, this study has helped to create awareness of the presence of Vibrio species in MTU pond and to discourage MTU communities and inhabitants about the risk of using water as a source of water or using the fishes as a source of food.