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Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 12 1995, 4310-4314, Vol 61, No. 12
W Zheng and S Kathariou
The growth of Listeria monocytogenes in food stored in the cold has often
been implicated in outbreaks of listeriosis. Many subtyping schemes have
suggested that epidemic-associated strains belong to a unique genetic
group. It has not yet been possible, however, to identify molecular or
bacteriologic markers unique to epidemic- associated strains. Recently we
cloned three genes of L. monocytogenes, ltrA, ltrB, and ltrC, which are
essential for growth at low temperatures (4 degrees C). The use of a 1.2-kb
PstI fragment derived from ltrB as a probe in Southern blots of
HindIII-digested DNA revealed three hybridization patterns: the first (a
5.0-kb band) was observed in strains of serotypes 4b, 1/2b, and 3b; the
second (a 3.1-kb band) was seen in strains of serotypes 1/2a, 3a, 1/2c, and
3c; and the third (a 9.5-kb band) was characteristic of epidemic-associated
serotype 4b strains. These and other data suggest that probes derived from
this gene region that is essential for growth at low temperatures can be
useful molecular tools for the subtyping of strains implicated in food-
borne listeriosis.
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
Differentiation of epidemic-associated strains of Listeria monocytogenes by restriction fragment length polymorphism in a gene region essential for growth at low temperatures (4 degrees C)
Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822, USA.
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