Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism and Multi-Locus Sequence Typing for high-resolution genotyping of Listeria monocytogenes from foods and the environment

• Published in: Food microbiology Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 101 - 108
• Main Authors: Parisi, Antonio, Latorre, Laura, Normanno, Giovanni, Miccolupo, Angela, Fraccalvieri, Rosa, Lorusso, Vanessa, Santagada, Gianfranco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2010
• Subjects: alleles; Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism; Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; bacterial contamination; Bacterial Typing Techniques - methods; DNA fingerprinting; Environmental Microbiology; epidemiological studies; Food Microbiology; food pathogens; food processing plants; foods; genes; Genotype; isolation; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeria monocytogenes - classification; Listeria monocytogenes - genetics; Listeria monocytogenes - isolation & purification; microbial detection; molecular sequence data; Molecular typing; Multi-Locus Sequence Typing; Phylogeny; ribotypes; sequence analysis; Sequence Analysis, DNA; serotypes; virulence; Multi-Locus Sequence Typing; Listeria monocytogenes; Molecular typing; Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism; DNA fingerprinting
• ISSN: 0740-0020; 1095-9998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2009.09.001

Standardized tools for typing Listeria monocytogenes isolates are required in epidemiological surveys investigating food-borne disease outbreaks and in the food-processing environment to identify the sources of contamination and routes by which the organisms are spread. In this survey Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) have been used to study 103 L. monocytogenes isolates from food and environmental sources. A total of 62 AFLP types and 66 MLST Sequence Types were identified. AFLP and MLST produced similar results in terms of discriminating power. The Discrimination Index calculated for the two techniques was 0.976 for AFLP and 0.972 for MLST. These values were appreciably higher compared to serotyping (0.739). A good congruence was observed between AFLP and MLST. The present study demonstrated that AFLP and MLST subtyping are suitable tools for studying the epidemiology of L. monocytogenes. The great advantage of MLST over AFLP and other molecular typing methods based on fragment fingerprinting lies in the unambiguity of sequence data while AFLP is less costly and highly processive. In conclusion the two methods can be perfectly integrated for high-resolution genotyping of L. monocytogenes.