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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2003, p. 7137-7144, Vol. 69, No. 12
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.12.7137-7144.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Real-Time PCR Analysis of Vibrio vulnificus from Oysters

Mark S. Campbell and Anita C. Wright*

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Received 12 March 2003/ Accepted 4 September 2003

Vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen commonly found in estuarine environments. Infections are associated with raw oyster consumption and can produce rapidly fatal septicemia in susceptible individuals. Standard enumeration of this organism in shellfish or seawater is laborious and inaccurate; therefore, more efficient assays are needed. An oligonucleotide probe derived from the cytolysin gene, vvhA, was previously used for colony hybridizations to enumerate V. vulnificus. However, this method requires overnight growth, and vibrios may lack culturability under certain conditions. In the present study, we targeted the same locus for development of a TaqMan real-time PCR assay. Probe specificity was confirmed by amplification of 28 V. vulnificus templates and by the lack of a PCR product with 22 non-V. vulnificus strains. Detection of V. vulnificus in pure cultures was observed over a 6-log-unit linear range of concentration (102 to 108 CFU ml-1), with a lower limit of 72 fg of genomic DNA µl of PCR mixture-1 or the equivalent of six cells. Similar sensitivity was observed in DNA extracted from mixtures of V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus cells. Real-time PCR enumeration of artificially inoculated oyster homogenates correlated well with colony hybridization counts (r2 = 0.97). Numbers of indigenous V. vulnificus cells in oysters by real-time PCR showed no significant differences from numbers from plate counts with probe (t test; P = 0.43). Viable but nonculturable cells were also enumerated by real-time PCR and confirmed by the BacLight viability assay. These data indicate that real-time PCR can provide sensitive species-specific detection and enumeration of V. vulnificus in seafood.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Florida, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, P.O. Box 110370, Gainesville, FL 32611-0370. Phone: (352) 392-1991, ext. 311. Fax: (352) 392-9467. E-mail: acwright{at}mail.ifas.ufl.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2003, p. 7137-7144, Vol. 69, No. 12
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.12.7137-7144.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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