A Novel Triplex Quantitative PCR Strategy for Quantification of Toxigenic and Nontoxigenic Vibrio cholerae in Aquatic Environments

Vibrio cholerae is a severe human pathogen and a frequent member of aquatic ecosystems. Quantification of V. cholerae in environmental water samples is therefore fundamental for ecological studies and health risk assessment. Beside time-consuming cultivation techniques, quantitative PCR (qPCR) has the potential to provide reliable quantitative data and offers the opportunity to quantify multiple targets simultaneously. A novel triplex qPCR strategy was developed in order to simultaneously quantify toxigenic and nontoxigenic V. cholerae in environmental water samples. To obtain quality-controlled PCR results, an internal amplification control was included. The qPCR assay was specific, highly sensitive, and quantitative across the tested 5-log dynamic range down to a method detection limit of 5 copies per reaction. Repeatability and reproducibility were high for all three tested target genes. For environmental application, global DNA recovery (GR) rates were assessed for drinking water, river water, and water from different lakes. GR rates ranged from 1.6% to 76.4% and were dependent on the environmental background. Uncorrected and GR-corrected V. cholerae abundances were determined in two lakes with extremely high turbidity. Uncorrected abundances ranged from 4.6 x 10(2) to 2.3 x 10(4) cell equivalents liter(-1), whereas GR-corrected abundances ranged from 4.7 x 10(3) to 1.6 x 10(6) cell equivalents liter(-1). GR-corrected qPCR results were in good agreement with an independent cell-based direct detection method but were up to 1.6 log higher than cultivation-based abundances. We recommend the newly developed triplex qPCR strategy as a powerful tool to simultaneously quantify toxigenic and nontoxigenic V. cholerae in various aquatic environments for ecological studies as well as for risk assessment programs.