Isolation and characterization of a Klebsiella strain from smokeless tobacco consumers

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>Organisms that reside in the oral cavity become an important aspect of health and disease. Disruption of the oral health and hygiene has been attributed to the presence of abnormal microflora. Consumption of tobacco has been considered to be a leading cause for the presence of abnormal oral microflora, in turn disrupting the oral health. In this study, 45 respondents were targeted from South Mumbai who consumed tobacco in smokeless forms. Klebsiella pneumoniae strain was isolated from oral swabs of smokeless tobacco consumers and compared against controls. The strain was characterized using phenotypic and genotypic approaches. The presence of Klebsiella was reported in 24 of the 45 samples. Sequence comparison of 16S rRNA gene and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the presence of Klebsiella strain. The sequence obtained was submitted to the NCBI Gene bank that has been granted an accession number- KM186520. During the course of our study we observed Klebsiella pneumoniae to exhibit green fluorescent colonies under UV spectroscopy. λ_max of the fluorescent chromophore was estimated to be 220 nm with OD of 1.785. Our analysis provides evidence that Klebsiella pneumoniae in the oral micro flora of the tobacco consumers exhibits a novel phenomenon of fluorescence.</p></div>