Search

Novel staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) expressed by Staphylococcus aureus strains have been described throughout the years, among these being the SE protein SER. To further characterize this toxin, this research used 13 S. aureus strains previously determined to contain the SE type R (ser) gene. These S. aureus isolates were evaluated using serological assays for identification of SEA-SEE and PCR for the detection of newly described SE and SE-like enterotoxin genes seg-seu. PCR-based cloning was performed such that the ser gene could be ligated into the pTrc99A plasmid expression vector. Ligation products were used to transform Escherichia coli (DH10Br) strains so that the ser open reading frame (ORF) could be sequenced and expressed for further characterization. Four of the 13 S. aureus strains tested harbored a ser ORF that yielded a PCR-positive result, but contained a frameshift mutation that subsequently introduced a premature stop codon abrogating expression of a full-sized functional protein. In this study, 30% of the PCR-positive ser strains tested were found to carry genes that coded for a nonfunctional SER protein, a finding that clearly illustrates the limited effectiveness of PCR for reliably evaluating enterotoxin potential for ser and, perhaps, other enterotoxin types.

Background: Using a novel combination of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis and geographic metadata, we traced the origins of Salmonella Bareilly isolates collected in 2012 during a widespread food-borne outbreak in the United States associated with scraped tuna imported from India., Methods: Using next-generation sequencing, we sequenced the complete genome of 100 Salmonella Bareilly isolates obtained from patients who consumed contaminated product, from natural sources, and from unrelated historically and geographically disparate foods. Pathogen genomes were linked to geography by projecting the phylogeny on a virtual globe and produced a transmission network., Results: Phylogenetic analysis of WGS data revealed a common origin for outbreak strains, indicating that patients in Maryland and New York were infected from sources originating at a facility in India., Conclusions: These data represent the first report fully integrating WGS analysis with geographic mapping and a novel use of transmission networks. Results showed that WGS vastly improves our ability to delimit the scope and source of bacterial food-borne contamination events. Furthermore, these findings reinforce the extraordinary utility that WGS brings to global outbreak investigation as a greatly enhanced approach to protecting the human food supply chain as well as public health in general., (Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2015. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.)

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Heidelberg (S. Heidelberg) is one of the top serovars causing human salmonellosis. Recently, an antibiotic-resistant strain of this serovar was implicated in a large 2011 multistate outbreak resulting from consumption of contaminated ground turkey that involved 136 confirmed cases, with one death. In this study, we assessed the evolutionary diversity of 44 S. Heidelberg isolates using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) generated by the 454 GS FLX (Roche) platform. The isolates, including 30 with nearly indistinguishable (one band difference) Xbal pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns (JF6X01.0032, JF6X01.0058), were collected from various sources between 1982 and 2011 and included nine isolates associated with the 2011 outbreak. Additionally, we determined the complete sequence for the chromosome and three plasmids from a clinical isolate associated with the 2011 outbreak using the Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) system. Using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses, we were able to distinguish highly clonal isolates, including strains isolated at different times in the same year. The isolates from the recent 2011 outbreak clustered together with a mean SNP variation of only 17 SNPs. The S. Heidelberg isolates carried a variety of phages, such as prophage P22, P4, lambda-like prophage Gifsy-2, and the P2-like phage which carries the sopE1 gene, virulence genes including 62 pathogenicity, and 13 fimbrial markers and resistance plasmids of the incompatibility (Inc)I1, IncA/C, and IncHI2 groups. Twenty-one strains contained an IncX plasmid carrying a type IV secretion system. On the basis of the recent and historical isolates used in this study, our results demonstrated that, in addition to providing detailed genetic information for the isolates, WGS can identify SNP targets that can be utilized for differentiating highly clonal S. Heidelberg isolates.

We examined O157:non-H7 strains isolated from various sources and geographical locations and found 15/57 strains to carry eae alleles, including alpha, beta, epsilon and kappa/delta, suggesting that these strains may be prevalent. All strains were serologically and genetically confirmed to be O157, but none were the H7 serotype or carried any trait virulence factors of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 serotype. Genetic H typing of the eae-positive strains showed that the alpha-eae-bearing strain was H45, while the beta- and epsilon-eae strains were H16 and the kappa/delta-eae strains were H39. The beta- and epsilon-eae-bearing O157:H16 strains shared approximately 90% pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) similarity and were distinct from the other strains that had other eae alleles. Interestingly, an epsilon-eae O157:H16 strain isolated from meat in France shared PFGE similarity to the O157:H16 strains from water in the United States. Multilocus sequence typing showed that there is clonal diversity within the O157 serogroup, as some O157:non-H7 strains clustered with EPEC clonal groups, while others clustered within the ST-171 group of diverse strains and serotypes that had not previously included any strains from the O157 serogroup. Clonal analysis also showed that none of the eae-positive O157:non-H7 strains we examined were closely related to the pathogenic O157:H7 serotype.