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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3525-3529, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Discrimination of Psychrotrophic and Mesophilic Strains of the Bacillus cereus Group by PCR Targeting of Major Cold Shock Protein Genes

Kevin P. Francis,1 Ralf Mayr,1 Felix von Stetten,1 Gordon S. A. B. Stewart,2 and Siegfried Scherer1,*

Institut für Mikrobiologie, Forschungszentrum für Milch und Lebensmittel Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, 85350 Freising, Germany,1 and Department of Applied Biochemistry and Food Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, United Kingdom2

Received 27 February 1998/Accepted 19 June 1998

Detection of psychrotrophic strains (those able to grow at or below 7°C) of the Bacillus cereus group (Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, and Bacillus mycoides) in food products is at present extremely slow with conventional microbiology. This is due to an inability to discriminate these cold-adapted strains from their mesophilic counterparts (those able to grow only above 7°C) by means other than growth at low temperature, which takes 5 to 10 days for detection. Here we report the development of a single PCR assay that, using major cold shock protein-specific primers and appropriate annealing temperatures, is capable of both rapidly identifying bacteria of the B. cereus group and discriminating between psychrotrophic and mesophilic strains. It is intended that this development help to more accurately predict the shelf life of refrigerated pasteurized food and dairy products and to reduce the incidence of food poisoning by psychrotrophic strains of the B. cereus group.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Mikrobiologie, Forschungszentrum für Milch und Lebensmittel Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Vöttingerstrasse 45, 85350 Freising, Germany. Phone: 49 8161 713516. Fax: 49 8161 714512. E-mail: Siegfried.Scherer{at}lrz.tum.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3525-3529, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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