title: Biofilm formation ability of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from raw ready-to-eat seafood.
abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is of great concern as a foodborne pathogen. Many ready-to-eat foods are widely contaminated with this organism and have caused listeriosis outbreaks and sporadic cases in many countries. In Japan, there is a high incidence of L. monocytogenes contamination, specifically in raw ready-to-eat seafood. Identical L. monocytogenes subtypes have been isolated repeatedly from samples of food manufactured at a given store or processing plant, and researchers suspected that certain L. monocytogenes isolates have formed biofilms at these sites. A microtiter plate biofilm formation assay was conducted, and all raw ready-to-eat seafood isolates tested were able to form biofilms to various degrees. Biofilm formation by L. monocytogenes isolates of lineage I was significantly greater (P = 0.000) than that by isolates of lineage II. However, isolates of clonal lineages formed different levels of biofilms, indicating that the ability to form a biofilm is affected positively or negatively by environmental factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Marine Science, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Satoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miya
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: Bon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kimura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005399:Fishes / Q000382:microbiology*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005525:Food-Processing Industry / Q000592:standards; D007564:Japan; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D017747:Seafood / Q000382:microbiology*