A rapid (one day), sensitive real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for detecting Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ground beef.

The purpose of this study was to apply our rapid, integrated double enrichment 5' nuclease real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and evaluate its efficacy. The assay targeted ground beef, an important vehicle in disease epidemiology. The assay reliably determined in 8 h the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef at the level of 1 colony-forming unit (CFU)/g. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were compared with that of standard enrichment diagnostic techniques. A correlation of 100% in detection was achieved to the limit of 1 CFU/g. This assay can be used as a rapid, automatic process for identification of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef or can be integrated with standard culture procedures, resulting in considerable cost and time savings.

A rapid molecular-based assay for direct quantification of viable bacteria in slaughterhouses.

A rapid test for microbial quantification in carcass and environmental swabs that does not require enrichment and provides results in less than 4 h is described here. Steps in the assay include the rapid concentration of bacteria on sponge swabs by vacuum filtration followed by real-time PCR detection. The assay has been applied for the detection of coliforms, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes on carcass swabs and environmental samples in a slaughterhouse-processing line. Comparison of this rapid method with standard culture techniques for coliform counts on beef and pork carcass swabs revealed higher numbers of bacteria (2- to 50-fold) by the rapid test compared with the plate counts. This was due to the detection of all bacteria (live, dead, and non-culturable forms) in the rapid assay. To allow detection of only viable bacteria, concentrated samples were treated with ethidium monoazide (EMA) prior to DNA extraction and real-time PCR detection, thereby preventing the amplification of DNA from bacteria with damaged cell walls and allowing only the DNA from bacteria with intact membranes to be detected. EMA treatment resulted in a significant reduction (P < 0.001) in the number of coliforms detected compared to real-time PCR without EMA treatment. In beef swabs, the counts obtained in EMA real-time PCR were not significantly different (P < 0.08) from the culture counts and the correlation coefficient between the two assays was 0.7385. A lower correlation coefficient (0.402) was obtained with pork swabs. The assay described herein has the potential to be applied on a routine basis to slaughterhouse lines for the detection of indicator organisms or specific pathogens.

Application of quantitative real-time PCR with dual-labeled hydrolysis probes to microbial water quality monitoring.

Issues of water quality are a global problem with potentially devastating results in communities if microbial levels are not monitored and controlled effectively.This is especially true with the potential threat of bioterrorist contamination of water supplies.This study presents a method for quantifying microbial water pathogens by 5' nuclease real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis, thus decreasing the assay time (under 2 h for completion of thermal cycling and analysis) and increasing the sensitivity and precision of detection as compared with traditionally used assays. We have quantified Escherichia coli, toxigenic E. coli O157:H7, the microcystin-producing cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa, and the protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia. Our measurements have detected as few as three cells per sample for the bacterial targets and one cell per sample for G. lamblia. The quantification of total E. coli and microcystin-producing cyanobacteria has been extended to the analysis of environmental samples.