title: Evaluating the occurrence of Escherichia albertii in chicken carcass rinses by PCR, Vitek analysis, and sequencing of the rpoB gene.
abstract: Escherichia albertii is a recently described species that has been associated with gastroenteritis in humans and with healthy and ill birds. Most recently, it has been identified as the causative agent in a food-borne outbreak in Japan. The distribution and clinical importance of E. albertii are not well studied because its importance is unclear. Culture methods for clinical isolation frequently miss E. albertii or incorrectly identify it as Shigella spp., Escherichia coli, or Hafnia alvei. This study was designed to determine if E. albertii could be recovered from chicken carcass rinses collected at slaughter during a 1-year period from November 2009 until October 2010. Colonies were isolated from chicken carcass rinses and tested by PCR for the presence or absence of clpX, lysP, mdh, intimin (eae), Shiga toxins 1 and 2 (stx1, stx2, and stx2f), heat-stable enterotoxin A (staA), and cytolethal distending toxins 1 and 2 (cdtB) genes. Sixty-five isolates were analyzed by sequencing a section of the rpoB gene. Analysis of the rpoB gene sequences revealed 14 fixed differences between E. albertii and other, closely related organisms. The fixed differences found in the rpoB gene could aid in future discrimination of E. albertii from closely related bacteria.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Lindsey
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Paula J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fedorka-Cray
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abley
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Turpin
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA rick.meinersmann@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Meinersmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit