Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the possibility of using bacteriophages for the detection of viable Shigella boydii in food products. A Shigella bacteriophage belonging to a member of the Siphoviridae family was isolated from swine fecal samples. The free bacteriophages were highly stable against pH 4.0 to 9.0 and temperature change (z-value = 17.1 °C). The bacteriophage amplification assay was able to selectively detect S. boydii in a bacterial mixture of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella Typhimurium. The number of S. boydii bacteriophages enumerated by the amplification assay was highly correlated with the number of viable S. boydii in single (r = 0.987) and mixed (r = 0.969) cultures. The bacteriophage-based detection of S. boydii was highly reproducible in lettuce (6.3 log CFU/ml and 4.9 log PFU/ml) and cooked chicken breasts (6.1 log CFU/ml and 6.0 log PFU/ml). These results suggest that the bacteriophage amplification assay can be used as an alternative method for rapid, selective, and cost-effective detection of S. boydii in food products, and provides useful information for designing a quick and simple detection kit.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a 2015 Research Grant from Kangwon National University (Grant No. 520150317). The authors also thank Ms. Myeong-Seon Jung of the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI, Chuncheon, Korea) for her technical assistance in the analytical field using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
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Jung, LS., Ahn, J. Evaluation of bacteriophage amplification assay for rapid detection of Shigella boydii in food systems. Ann Microbiol 66, 883–888 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1178-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1178-y