Real-time PCR Detection of Foodborne Pathogenic Vibrio

Real-time PCR Detection of Foodborne Pathogenic Vibriofrom Luciana Croci and Elisabetta Suffredini writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications:Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are naturally occurring in aquatic environments, the majority of them being non-pathogenic to humans, whereas some species have been associated with human disease. In particular V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus are known to be important human pathogens. The detection of pathogenic vibrios mostly relies on conventional cultural methods that often require further confirmation. Recently molecular methods (conventional PCR and Real Time PCR) to test food and environmental samples for the presence of different potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp have been developed. An overview of the Real Time PCR methods proposed by different authors is reported. For each of the three vibrios (V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus) the primers and probes targeting, in single or multiplex format, species-specific genes or their pathogenic factors are summarised. Real Time PCR is efficient, rapid and easy to perform, resulting very useful in the qualitative and quantitative detection of pathogenic vibrios in seafood. On the other hand, PCR may amplify dead cells providing false positive results or may be influenced by the presence of the inhibitors providing false negative results. The proposals of overcoming these problems through a treatment of cultures with ethidi...
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