title: Serotyping & molecular characterization for study of genetic diversity among seafood associated nontyphoidal Salmonella serovars.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Infections due to seafood associated Salmonella serovars are great risk to public health. Different phenotypic characteristics have been used previously for epidemiological investigation of Salmonella. Beyond the phenotypic characterization, a reliable genetic level discriminatory method is required. Therefore, this study was attempted to use different phenotypic and molecular fingerprinting methods for investigation of genetic diversity among seafood associated nontyphoidal Salmonella serovars.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty eight seafood associated Salmonella isolates were included in this study. All isolates were serotyped and epidemiological investigation was carried out using molecular fingerprinting methods, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence based-PCR (ERIC-PCR) along with whole cell protein profiling using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) in our study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 58 Salmonella isolates, S. Weltevreden was observed to be the most predominant serovar. Typing of Salmonella serovars using RAPD and ERIC-PCR suggested the existence of a genetic diversity. Though both PCR based techniques were found to have a good discriminatory index, a better discriminatory ability was observed when the results obtained by the two techniques were combined and taken for composite analysis. Protein profiling of whole cells using SDS-PAGE demonstrated the presence of several bands with two bands of sizes 38 kDa and 46 kDa common among all 58 isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows that use of protein profiling in combination with established typing methods such as RAPD and ERIC-PCR may provide useful information in typing of non-typhoidal Salmonella isolates associated with seafood and to develop strategies to protect public from Salmonella infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fishery Microbiology, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal & Fisheries Sciences University, College of Fisheries, Mangalore, India.
authors.forename: Patit Paban
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Bhowmick
authors.forename: Shabarinath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Srikumar
authors.forename: Devananda
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Devegowda
authors.forename: Malathi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shekar
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Darshanee Ruwandeepika
authors.forename: Indrani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karunasagar
mesh_terms: D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005516:Food Microbiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique / Q000379:methods; D012475:Salmonella / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012480:Salmonella Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D017747:Seafood / Q000382:microbiology*; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial