A clade of Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4b variant strains linked to recent listeriosis outbreaks associated with produce from a defined geographic region in the US.

ABSTRACT: Four listeriosis incidences/outbreaks, spanning 19 months, have been linked to Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4b variant (4bV) strains. Three of these incidents can be linked to a defined geographical region, while the fourth is likely to be linked. In this study, whole genome sequencing (WGS) of strains from these incidents was used for genomic comparisons using two approached. The first was JSpecies tetramer, which analyzed tetranucleotide frequency to assess relatedness. The second, the CFSAN SNP Pipeline, was used to perform WGS SNP analyses against three different reference genomes to evaluate relatedness by SNP distances. In each case, unrelated strains were included as controls. The analyses showed that strains from these incidents form a highly related clade with SNP differences o

SUBMITTER: Burall LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5413027 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature