A study of the potential application of digital PCR in the detection of fecal contamination of strawberries using Bacteroides markers

Abstract

Food-borne illnesses can result from contamination of agricultural products. In this study, we examined nanoplate digital PCR (dPCR) to test for fecal contamination of agricultural products. In nanoplate technique, the PCR mastermix is divided into 8.526,000 partitions, providing direct detection of individual DNA molecules, with correction by Poisson distribution. In this project, strawberries were inoculated with fecal material from animals, and the result detected by nanoplate digital PCR. A detection limit of 250 fg/uL was determined. Overall, dPCR offers a quick and sensitive method to detect contaminated produce.