DEVELOPMENT OF A PROBE AND PCR PRIMERS SPECIFIC TO THE VIRULENCE PLASMID OF SALMONELLA-ENTERITIDIS

Restriction analysis of the Salmonella enteritidis virulence plasmid, followed by hybridisation with radiolabelled S. typhimurium and S. dub lin plasmids, revealed a 2-kb PstI/Bg/I fragment that was specific to S. enteritidis. Colony hybridisation experiments with this fragment de tected 29 out of 31 S. enteritidis strains tested. S. blegdam, S. mosc ow and S. paratyphi C also hybridised with this fragment and a compari son of the plasmids from these serotypes revealed striking similaritie s. A PstI/PvuII sub-clone of the 2-kb fragment was used to design prim ers for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) detection of S. enteritidis from broth culture.