Project description:Enterotoxin-producing C. perfringens type A is a common cause of food poisonings. The cpe encoding the enterotoxin can be chromosomal (genotype IS1470) or plasmid-borne (genotypes IS1470-like-cpe or IS1151-cpe). The chromosomal cpe-carrying C. perfringens are a more common cause of food poisonings than plasmid-borne cpe-genotypes. The chromosomal cpe-carrying C. perfringens type A strains are generally more resistant to most food-processing conditions than plasmid-borne cpe-carrying strains. On the other hand, the plasmid-borne cpe-positive genotypes are more commonly found in human feces than chromosomal cpe-positive genotypes, and humans seem to be a reservoir for plasmid-borne cpe-carrying strains. Thus, it is possible that the epidemiology of C. perfringes type A food poisonings caused by plasmid-borne and chromosomal cpe-carrying strains is different. A DNA microarray was designed for analysis of genetic relatedness between the different cpe-positive and cpe-negative genotypes of C. perfringens strains isolated from human, animal, environmental and food samples. The DNA microarray contained two probes for all protein-coding sequences in the three genome-sequenced strains (C. perfringens type A strains 13, ATCC13124, and SM101). The chromosomal and plasmid-borne C. perfringens genotypes were grouped into two distinct clusters, one consisting of the chromosomal cpe-genotypes and the other consisting of plasmid-borne cpe-genotypes. Analysis of the variable gene pool complemented with the growth studies demonstrate different carbohydrate and amine metabolism in the chromosomal and plasmid-borne cpe-carrying strains, suggesting different epidemiology of the cpe-positive C. perfringens strain groups. Array CGH. Two-color hybridizations on 8x15K Agilent arrays. Eight reference strain hybridizations. Normalization was based on log-ratios against the reference strain. For each sample, 8 normalization factors were calculated, one against each reference hybridization, and the median normalization factor was used. This was repeated for each sample hybridization separately.

Project description:Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites which are produced by numerous fungi and pose a continuous challenge to the safety and quality of food commodities in South Africa. These toxins have toxicologically relevant effects on humans and animals that eat contaminated foods. In this study, a diagnostic DNA microarray was developed for the identification of the most common food-borne fungi, as well as the genes leading to toxin production. A total of 40 potentially mycotoxigenic fungi isolated from different food commodities, as well as the genes that are involved in the mycotoxin synthetic pathways, were analyzed. For fungal identification, oligonucleotide probes were designed by exploiting the sequence variations of the elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1 Î±) coding regions and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rRNA gene cassette. For the detection of fungi able to produce mycotoxins, oligonucleotides directed towards genes leading to toxin production from different fungal strains were identified in data available in the public domain. The oligonucleotides selected for fungal identification and the oligonucleotides specific for toxin producing genes were spotted onto microarray slides. The diagnostic microarray developed can be used to identify potentially mycotoxigenic fungi as well as genes leading to toxin production in both laboratory and food samples offering an interesting potential for microbiological laboratories. Keywords: Development of a diagnostic microarray for the identification of potentially mycotoxigenic fungi as well as genes leading to toxin production, 40 food-borne fungi, mycotoxins Development of a diagnostic array for the identification of food-borne fungi and their potential mycotoxin-producing genes. Oligonucleotide probes to be printed onto the array were designed by exploiting the sequence variations of the elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1 Î±) coding regions and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rRNA gene cassette. For the detection of fungi able to produce mycotoxins, oligonucleotides directed towards genes leading to toxin production from different fungal strains were identified in data available in the public domain. Analysis was performed with 40 fungal cultures were obtained from the Agricultural Research Council culture collection (ARC), Pretoria, South Africa.an in-house spotted oligonucleotide microarray. The identity of each fungus was confirmed by standard laboratory procedures. For DNA isolation, the fungal strains were grown on 1.5% malt extract agar at 25Â°C for 1-2 weeks and total genomic fungal DNA was extracted following the DNA extraction protocol described by Raeder and Broda (1985). The internal transcribed spacer oligonucleotides ITS1, ITS3 and ITS4 were used as a reference for normalization of all spot intensity data.Samples were fluorescently labelled with Cy5 dye by using a Cyâ¢Dye Post-labelling Reactive Dye Pack and wre hybridized to the oligonucleotide microarray overnight. Two biological and one technical replicate (using independent labelling reactions) was performed, each replication consisting of a reverse labelling experiment.

Dataset Information

Escherichia coli

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure