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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2003, p. 258-266, Vol. 69, No. 1
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.1.258-266.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Attachment of Listeria monocytogenes to Radish Tissue Is Dependent upon Temperature and Flagellar Motility

Lisa Gorski,* Jeffrey D. Palumbo, and Robert E. Mandrell

Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, California 94710

Received 26 July 2002/ Accepted 24 September 2002

Outbreaks of listeriosis and febrile gastroenteritis have been linked to produce contamination by Listeria monocytogenes. In order to begin to understand the physiology of the organism in a produce habitat, the ability of L. monocytogenes to attach to freshly cut radish tissue was examined. All strains tested had the capacity to attach sufficiently well such that they could not be removed during washing of the radish slices. A screen was developed to identify Tn917-LTV3 mutants that were defective in attachment to radish tissue, and three were characterized. Two of the three mutations were in genes with unknown functions. Both of the unknown genes mapped to a region predicted to contain genes necessary for flagellar export; however, only one of the two insertions caused a motility defect. The third insertion was found to be in an operon encoding a phosphoenolpyruvate-sugar phosphotransferase system. All three mutants were defective in attachment when tested at 30°C; the motility mutant had the most severe phenotype. However, not all of the mutants were defective when tested at other temperatures. These results indicate that L. monocytogenes may use different attachment factors at different temperatures and that temperature should be considered an important variable in studies of the molecular mechanisms of Listeria fitness in complex environments.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: USDA, ARS, WRRC, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710. Phone: (510) 559-6046. Fax: (510) 559-6162. E-mail: lgorski{at}pw.usda.gov.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2003, p. 258-266, Vol. 69, No. 1
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.1.258-266.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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