Resumen

Introduction: Rapid, accurate and inexpensive analysis of the disease-causing potential of foodborne pathogens is an important consideration in food safety and biodefense, particularly in developing countries. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the use of a robust and inexpensive microarray platform to assay the virulence gene profiles in Salmonella from food and/or the food animal environment, and then use ArrayTrack^TM for data analysis. Methodology: The spotted array consisted of 69 selected Salmonella-specific virulence gene probes (65bp each). These probes were printed on poly-L-lysine-coated slides. Genomic DNA was digested with Sau3AI, labeled with Cy3 dye, hybridized to the gene probes, and the images were captured and analyzed by GenePix 4000B and ArrayTrack^TM, a free software developed by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researchers. Results: Nearly 58% of the virulence-associated genes tested were present in all Salmonella strains tested. In general, genes belonging to inv, pip, prg, sic, sip, spa or ttr families were detected in more than 90% of the isolates, while the iacP, avrA, invH, rhuM, sirA, sopB, sopE or sugR genes were detected in 40 to 80% of the isolates. The gene variability was independent of the Salmonella serotype. Conclusions: This hybridization array presents an accurate and cost-effective method for evaluating the disease-causing potential of Salmonella in outbreak investigations by targeting a selective set of Salmonella-associated virulence genes.

Palabras clave: Salmonella virulence associated genes microarray pathogenicity.

2011-04-18   |   391 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 5 Núm.2. Febrero 2011 Pags. 94-105 J Infect Developing Countries 2011; 5(2)