Resuscitation of viable but nonculturable cells of Vibrio parahaemolyticus induced at low temperature under starvation

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is known to exist in a viable but nonculturablestate when incubated at low temperature under starvation. It haslong been debated whether the culturable cells which appear aftertemperature upshift are the result of true resuscitation or regrowthof a few residual culturable cells. Starved V. parahaemolyticus cellsat 4�C reached the nonculturable stage in about 12 days. The trueresuscitation of nonculturable cells of V. parahaemolyticus occurredafter spreading them onto an agar medium supplemented with H2O2-degradingcompounds such as catalase or sodium pyruvate. The proposed methodmay be applicable to detecting the enteropathogen from environmentalsamples.