Specific and rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes is very important wi
th regard to food safety since all other species of Listeria appear to be n
on-pathogenic to humans. Conventional microbiological detection methods are
very time consuming. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the mos
t promising techniques for rapid detection of micro-organisms in food produ
cts. We have developed a PCR assay, specific for L. monocytogenes,based on
the gene encoding an aminopeptidase, which previously has not been describe
d. for this species.
The L. monocytogenes aminopeptidase shares strong sequence similarity with
aminopeptidase C from Streptococcus thermophilous, Lactobacillus lactis, La
ctobacillus helveticus, and with a cysteine proteinase from Saccharomyces c
erevisiae. Polymerase chain reaction primers were synthesized based on the
DNA sequence of the aminopeptidase gene. A 90 bp product was apparent with
all L. monocytogenes strains tested but not with other species of Listeria
or other bacterial genera. The PCR assay, which is performed directly from
whole bacterial cells, does not involve DNA purification and can be conduct
ed in 4 h. It provided positive identification of L. monocytogenes in mixed
culture. (C) 1999 Academic Press.