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Microarrays are an excellent means of high through put detection of bacteria for diagnostic purposes. Although a number of diagnostic arrays are reported for bacterial and viral detection, they have not been widely adopted due to the high cost and difficulty in designing large number of probes because of the limited availability of food-borne pathogen sequenced genomes. The recent reduction in genome sequencing cost has resulted in the availability of a large number of sequenced food borne pathogen genomes. Also, the price of the microarray has tumbled making them very affordable. Hence, we propose to develop a composite diagnostic array for the simultaneous detection of all major food borne pathogens. We expect that our pan species array will have the ability to screen for the presence of food- and water-borne pathogens by the examination of specific diagnostic virulence factors or antimicrobial resistance genes and by creating a fingerprint specific to each pathogen. The microarray method offers increased confidence of accurate detection of food and water-borne pathogens over the existing diagnostic technologies. This high throughout pathogen screening system could be widely used for pathogen identification and may be used to identify new pathogens.
<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> The ability to develop a comprehensive diagnostic tool for food-borne pathogens will help to quickly identify and track these outbreaks. We will identify the core genes and specific genes of each species, including virulence factors and antibiotic resistance profiles. In the short term, we anticipate that the results obtained in the proposed studies will facilitate development of specific microarray diagnostic tests for foodborne pathogens and may provide clues as to the sources of infection. In the long term, a microarray-based test may be used for the screening of potential food-borne pathogens and facilitate the reduction of contaminated foods and aid in tracking the contamination back to its source. Therefore, once this technique is well established, it will provide for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens and help reduce risks to
animal and human health.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> To overcome the limitations in existing bacterial detection methodologies, we propose to develop a genomic approach for the detection of common food and waterborne pathogens. Following the strategy of using a set of invariable genes to define the statistical cutoff and then selecting genes that are specific for a species or strain and also including virulence genes to study pathogenicity, we propose to develop a composite array targeting the following genera; Bacillus, Campylobacter, Clostridium, E. coli, Helicobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Vibrio and Yersinia.