Gene expression profiles of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in viable but non-culturable state

Viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state is referred to as a dormant state of non-sporulating bacteria enhancing the survival in adverse environments. To our knowledge, only few studies have been conducted on whole genomic expression of Vibrio parahaemolyticus VBNC state. Since a degradation of nucleic acids in V. vulnificus non-culturable state has been detected, we hypothesize that gene regulation of VBNC cells is highly reduced, downregulation of gene expression is dominant and only metabolic functions crucial for survival are kept on a sustained basis. Hence, we performed the whole transcriptomic profiles of V. parahaemolyticus in three phases (exponential, early stationary phase and VBNC state). Compared with exponential and early stationary phase, in V. parahaemolyticus VBNC cells we found 509 induced genes and 309 repressed by more than 4-fold among 4820 investigated genes. Upregulation was dominant in most of non-metabolism functional categories, while five metabolism-related functional categories revealed downregulation in VBNC state. To our knowledge, this is the first study of comprehensive transcriptomic analyses of three phases of V. parahaemolyticus RIMD2210633. Although the mechanism of VBNC state is not yet clear, massive regulation of gene expression occurs in VBNC state compared with expression in other two phases, indicating VBNC cells are active.