Evidence of a new metabolic capacity in an emerging diarrheal pathogen: lessons from the draft genomes of Vibrio fluvialis strains PG41 and I21563

BACKGROUND Vibrio fluvialis is an emerging diarrheal pathogen for which no genome is currently available. In this work, draft genomes of two closely related clinical strains PG41 and I21563 have been explored. RESULTS V. fluvialis strains PG41 and I21563 were sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq 1000 platform to obtain draft genomes of 5.3 Mbp and 4.4 Mbp respectively. Our genome data reveal the presence of genes involved in ethanolamine utilization, which is further experimentally confirmed by growth analysis. CONCLUSIONS Combined in silico and growth analysis establish a new metabolic capacity of V. fluvialis to harvest energy from ethanolamine.