Listeria monocytogenes and whole genome sequencing
2018
Lakicevic, Brankica | Djordjevic, Vesna (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7236-5071) | Ruppitsch, Werner
Listeria monocytogenes is a facultatively anaerobic, gram-positive, non-sporeforming, psychrophilic, salt-tolerant, intracellular pathogen of humans and animals, causing clinical manifestations that include gastroenteritis, encephalitis, meningitis, abortion and septicemia. A number of serotypes of L. monocytogenes can be isolated from environmental and food sources, but most outbreaks of human disease are due to serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b. During the investigation of a listeriosis outbreak, rapid and accurate subtyping methods are essential for identification of the infection source and subsequent elimination of the contaminated food. The ongoing evolution of sequencing technologies from Sanger sequencing to next-generation sequencing enables analysis on a wholegenome level. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is an effective, powerful analytical tool for obtaining genomic data which gives a higher level of resolution discrimination, i.e. better information about genetic similarity between isolates than conventional time-consuming molecular typing such as fAFLP or PFGE. Such labour-intensive molecular methods only determine if isolates are the same or different but not how closely related they are genetically. Therefore, implementation of WGS is likely to be beneficial for many countries in the foreseeable future, in support of food safety management systems, disease surveillance and outbreak investigation. Also, the results are useful for addressing broader questions that are critical for food safety improvements and preventive measures, through source tracking, source attribution and the identification of transmission pathways. In this respect, WGS likely will replace most of the numerous workflows used in public health laboratories to characterize foodborne pathogens, such as L. monocytogenes, into one consolidated, efficient workflow.
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