title: Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism and Multi-Locus Sequence Typing for high-resolution genotyping of Listeria monocytogenes from foods and the environment.
abstract: Standardized tools for typing Listeria monocytogenes isolates are required in epidemiological surveys investigating food-borne disease outbreaks and in the food-processing environment to identify the sources of contamination and routes by which the organisms are spread. In this survey Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) have been used to study 103 L. monocytogenes isolates from food and environmental sources. A total of 62 AFLP types and 66 MLST Sequence Types were identified. AFLP and MLST produced similar results in terms of discriminating power. The Discrimination Index calculated for the two techniques was 0.976 for AFLP and 0.972 for MLST. These values were appreciably higher compared to serotyping (0.739). A good congruence was observed between AFLP and MLST. The present study demonstrated that AFLP and MLST subtyping are suitable tools for studying the epidemiology of L. monocytogenes. The great advantage of MLST over AFLP and other molecular typing methods based on fragment fingerprinting lies in the unambiguity of sequence data while AFLP is less costly and highly processive. In conclusion the two methods can be perfectly integrated for high-resolution genotyping of L. monocytogenes.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Apulia and Basilicata, Foggia, Italy. parisi.izs@tin.it
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Latorre
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Normanno
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miccolupo
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fraccalvieri
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santagada
mesh_terms: D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA