Isolation of thermotolerant Vermamoeba vermiformis strains from water sources in Lanzarote Island, Canary Islands, Spain

María Reyes-Batlle; Carolina Wagner; Jonadab Zamora-Herrera; Alejandro Vargas-Mesa; Ines Sifaoui; Ana C. González; Atteneri López-Arencibia; Basilio Valladares; Enrique Martínez-Carretero; José E. Piñero; Jacob Lorenzo-Morales

doi:10.1515/ap-2016-0088

Article

Isolation of thermotolerant Vermamoeba vermiformis strains from water sources in Lanzarote Island, Canary Islands, Spain

María Reyes-Batlle , Carolina Wagner , Jonadab Zamora-Herrera , Alejandro Vargas-Mesa , Ines Sifaoui , Ana C. González , Atteneri López-Arencibia , Basilio Valladares , Enrique Martínez-Carretero , José E. Piñero and Jacob Lorenzo-Morales

Published/Copyright: July 21, 2016

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Author Information

From the journal Acta Parasitologica Volume 61 Issue 3

Abstract

In this study, twenty water samples were collected in the island of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain in order to check for the presence of V. vermiformis strains in these samples. Water samples were cultured on 2% Non-Nutrient Agar (NNA) plates covered with a thin layer of heat killed E. coli and checked daily for the presence of Vermamoeba. After a week, V. vermiformis amoebae were observed in 2 of the 20 processed samples (10%) incubated at room temperature and 37°C. Molecular characterization was carried out by amplifying the 18S rDNA gene and DNA sequencing in order to confirm the identity of the isolated amoebic strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the presence of FLA in environmental sources in Lanzarote Island and the first report of Vermamoeba vermiformis in water sources in this island. Furthermore, the two strains isolated in this study were collected in recreational areas with close contact with humans and thus awareness should be raised.

Keywords: Vermamoeba vermiformis; water; Lanzarote; Canary Islands; Spain

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grants RICET (project no. RD12/0018/0012 of the programme of Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa, FIS), Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain, the Project PI13/00490 "Protozoosis Emergentes por Amebas de Vida Libre: Aislamiento, Caracterización, Nuevas Aproximaciones Terapéuticas y Traslación Clínica de los Resultados" from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Project ref. AGUA3 "Amebas de Vida Libre como Marcadores de Calidad del Agua" from Caja-Canarias Fundación. ALA and MRB were funded by Becas de Investigación Obra Social La Caixa-Fundación Cajacanarias para Postgraduados 2014". IS was funded by "Ayudas para estancias de estudiantes de posgrado e investigadores americanos y africanos – 2015" of the University of La Laguna. JLM was supported by the Ramón y Cajal Subprogramme from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity RYC-2011-08863.

References

Adamska M., Leonska-Duniec A., Lanocha N., Skotarczak B. 2014. Thermophilic pathogenic amoebae isolated from natural water bodies in Poland and their molecular characterization. Acta Parasitologica, 59, 433–44110.2478/s11686-014-0266-7Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Bonilla-Lemus P., Caballero Villegas A.S., Carmona Jiménez J., Lugo Vázquez A. 2014. Occurrence of free-living amoebae in streams of the Mexico Basin. Experimental Parasitology, 145 Suppl, S28–3310.1016/j.exppara.2014.07.001Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Fouque E., Trouilhé M.C., Thomas V., Humeau P., Héchard Y. 2014. Encystment of Vermamoeba (Hartmannella) vermiformis: Effects of environmental conditions and cell concentration. Experimental Parasitology, 145 Suppl, S62–6810.1016/j.exppara.2014.03.029Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Fouque E., Yefimova M., Trouilhé M.C., Quellard N., Fernandez B., Rodier M.H., Thomas V., Humeau P., Héchard Y. 2015. Morphological Study of the Encystment and Excystment of Vermamoeba vermiformis Revealed Original Traits. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 62, 327–33710.1111/jeu.12185Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Lasjerdi Z., Niyyati M., Lorenzo-Morales J., Haghighi A., Taghipour N. 2015. Ophthalmology hospital wards contamination to pathogenic free living Amoebae in Iran. Acta Parasitologica, 60, 417–42210.1515/ap-2015-0057Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Lorenzo-Morales J., Khan N.A., Walochnik J. 2015. An update on Acanthamoeba keratitis: diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment. Parasite 22, 1010.1051/parasite/2015010Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

Lorenzo-Morales J., Monteverde-Miranda C.A., Jiménez C., Tejedor M.L., Valladares B., Ortega-Rivas A. 2005b. Evaluation of Acanthamoeba isolates from environmental sources in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine, 12, 233–236Search in Google Scholar

Lorenzo-Morales J., Ortega-Rivas A., Foronda P., Martínez E., Valladares B. 2005a. Isolation and identification of pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain from water sources. Parasitology Research, 95, 273–27710.1007/s00436-005-1301-2Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Page E.C. 1988. A New Key to Freshwater and Soil Gymnamoebae. Freshwater Biological Association, Cumbria, England, UKSearch in Google Scholar

Pagnier I., Valles C., Raoult D., La Scola B. 2015. Isolation of Vermamoeba vermiformis and associated bacteria in hospital water. Microbial Pathogenesis, 80, 14–2010.1016/j.micpath.2015.02.006Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Reyes-Batlle M., Niyyati M., Martín-Navarro C.M., López-Arencibia A., Valladares B., Martínez-Carretero E., Piñero J.E., Lorenzo-Morales J. 2015. Unusual Vermamoeba vermiformis strain isolated from Snow in Mount Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Novelty in Biomedicine, 3, 189–192Search in Google Scholar

Reyes-Batlle M., Todd C.D., Martín-Navarro C.M., López-Arencibia A., Cabello-Vílchez A.M., González A.C., Córdoba-Lanús E., Lindo J.F., Valladares B., Piñero J.E., Lorenzo-Morales J. 2014. Isolation and characterization of Acanthamoeba strains from soil samples in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. Parasitology Research, 113, 1383–138810.1007/s00436-014-3778-zSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

Richards A.M., Von Dwingelo J.E., Price C.T., Abu Kwaik Y. 2013. Cellular microbiology and molecular ecology of Legionella-amoeba interaction. Virulence, 4, 307–31410.4161/viru.24290Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

Smirnov A.V., Chao E., Nassonova E.S., Cavalier-Smith T. 2011. A revised classification of naked lobose amoebae (Amoebozoa: lobosa). Protist, 162, 545–57010.1016/j.protis.2011.04.004Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Tamura K., Peterson D., Peterson N., Stecher G., Nei M., Kumar S. 2011. MEGA5: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 28, 2731–273910.1093/molbev/msr121Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

Thomas V., Loret J.F., Jousset M., Greub G. 2008. Biodiversity of amoebae and amoebae-resisting bacteria in a drinking water treatment plant. Environmental Microbiology, 10, 2728–274510.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01693.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

Thomas V., McDonnell G., Denyer S.P., Maillard J.Y. 2010. Free-living amoebae and their intracellular pathogenic microorganisms: risks for water quality. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 34, 231–25910.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00190.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

Received: 2015-2-16

Revised: 2016-3-14

Accepted: 2016-3-17

Published Online: 2016-7-21

Published in Print: 2016-9-1

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ap-2016-0088

Keywords for this article

Vermamoeba vermiformis; water; Lanzarote; Canary Islands; Spain