The Salm-gene project - a European collaboration for DNA fingerprinting for food-related salmonellosis.
An external quality assessment of PFGE method to discriminate between salmonella serotypes and lysotypes was carried out by the Salm-Gene project in Europe. A set of 16 strains of S. Enteritidis was sent to 9 national salmonella reference laboratories. By using a harmonised protocol, the PFGE profiles produced were comparable between each centre. In most cases, there was at least 90% similarity between isolates tested in the different European laboratories and there was usually >95% similarity. This suggests that PFGE analyses are reproducible and therefore can be used as a valuable investigation tool combined with epidemiological data.
Peters
T M
TM
Maguire
C
C
Threlfall
E J
EJ
Fisher
I S T
IS
Gill
N
N
Gatto
A J
AJ
D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005060:Europe; D011786:Quality Control; D012477:Salmonella enteritidis / Q000145:classification*; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards