Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes is one of the major foodborne pathogens. Isolates of PCR-serogroups IIb (n = 17) and IVb (n = 31) recovered from food (n = 33) and food processing environment (n = 15) in Poland were characterized using whole genome sequencing. Most isolates belonged to Multi-Locus Sequence Type (MLST) ST2 (31.3%) and ST5 (22.9%). Core genome MLST (cgMLST) analysis classified isolates into seven sublineages (SL) and 25 different cgMLST types (CT). Consistent with the MLST results, most sublineages were SL2 and SL5. Eleven isolates harbored aacA4 encoding resistance to aminoglycosides, three isolates harbored emrC (n = 3) and one brcABC (n = 1) encoding tolerance to benzalkonium chloride. Isolates belonging to SL5 CT2323 carried a so far unreported inlB allele with a deletion of 141 nucleotides encoding the β-repeat sheet and partially the GW1 domain of InlB. Comparison with publicly available genome sequences from L. monocytogenes isolated from human listeriosis cases in Poland from 2004 to 2013 revealed five common CTs, suggesting a possible epidemiological link with these strains. The present study contributes to characterize the diversity of L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and meat processing environments in Poland and unravels previously unnoticed links with clinical cases in Europe.
Highlights
Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most common foodborne zoonotic pathogens and the cause of listeriosis in human (Buchanan et al, 2017)
L. monocytogenes belonging to PCR-serogroup IIb contained isolates classified to four sequence types (ST3, ST5, ST87, and ST191) whereas isolates of PCR-serogroup IVb were classified to 4 other STs (ST1, ST2, ST6, and ST145) (Figure 1 and Supplementary Table S1)
The present analysis showed that isolates belonging to five Core genome MLST (cgMLST) types found in food (LI-SL1-ST1-CT1385, LI-SL1-ST1-CT322, LISL2-ST2-CT4382, LI-SL6-ST6-CT461, LI-SL6-ST6-CT443) were previously identified among human listeriosis isolates in Poland (Kuch et al, 2018) and other European countries (Denmark and France) (Moura et al, 2016, 2017)
Summary
Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most common foodborne zoonotic pathogens and the cause of listeriosis in human (Buchanan et al, 2017). In immunosuppressed and older individuals, L. monocytogenes can cause septicaemia and meningitis, and in pregnant women induce miscarriage and neonatal listeriosis (Ramaswamy et al, 2007). According to a recent EFSA zoonotic report, depending on the ready-to-eat food category, from 0 to 3.18% samples were contaminated with L. monocytogenes in 2018 (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA], 2019). 2,459 listeriosis cases were reported in the European Union, with a hospitalisation rate of 97.0% and a high fatality of 15.6% (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA], 2019). These values may not reflect the actual situation because European countries have different surveillance systems and the exhaustiveness of case notification and reporting varies
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