RNA-Based Detection Does not Accurately Enumerate Living Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cells on Plants.

ABSTRACT: The capacity to distinguish between living and dead cells is an important, but often unrealized, attribute of rapid detection methods for foodborne pathogens. In this study, the numbers of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 after inoculation onto Romaine lettuce plants and on plastic (abiotic) surfaces were measured over time by culturing, and quantitative PCR (qPCR), propidium monoazide (PMA)-qPCR, and reverse transcriptase (RT)-qPCR targeting E. coli O157:H7 gapA, rfbE, eae, and lpfA genes and gene transcripts. On Romaine lettuce plants incubated at low relative humidity, E. coli O157:H7 cell numbers declined 10(7)-fold within 96 h according to culture-based assessments. In contrast, there were no reductions in E. coli levels according to qPCR and only 100- and 1000-fold lower nu

SUBMITTER: Ju W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4767924 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature