title: Identification and characterization of toxigenic Bacillus cereus isolates responsible for two food-poisoning outbreaks.
abstract: The epidemiology of Bacillus cereus strains responsible for food poisoning is scantly known, mostly because the genotypic and toxigenic properties of the B. cereus strains isolated during food-poisoning outbreaks have been never catalogued. The occurrence of two simultaneous food-poisoning outbreaks gave us the opportunity to wonder whether (i) the identity of individual strains isolated from clinical, environmental, and food samples could be established by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR and multiplex RAPD-PCR, and (ii) the toxigenic potential of the isolates could be determined by testing their ability to secrete hemolysin BL, phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C, and cereulide, as well as by determining the presence of the genes encoding enterotoxins NHE, T, and FM/S, cytotoxin K, sphingomyelinase, and phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. This is the first report demonstrating that the combination of several phenotypic and genotypic traits provides a powerful tool for tracing the source of infection of toxigenic B. cereus strains relevant for epidemiological survey.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Patologia Sperimentale, Biotecnologie Mediche, Infettivologia ed Epidemiologia, University of Pisa, Via San Zeno 35-39, 56127, Pisa, Italy. ghelardi@biomed.unipi.it
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghelardi
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Celandroni
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvetti
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barsotti
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baggiani
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senesi
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D047630:Depsipeptides; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D006801:Humans; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D010738:Type C Phospholipases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D047630:Depsipeptides; D004768:Enterotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C089294:cereulide; C083961:hemolysin BL protein, Bacillus; D010738:Type C Phospholipases; C105598:phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C