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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #144023
Title: ISOLATION OF SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM TN5 MUTANTS DEFECTIVE FOR SURVIVAL ON EGG SHELL SURGACE USING TRANSPOSON FOOTPRINTING

Author
item KWON, Y - 6202-40-30
item Kubena, Leon
item Nisbet, David
item RICKE, S - TX A&M UNIV

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Science and Health
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2002
Publication Date: 1/20/2003
Citation: KWON, Y.M., KUBENA, L.F., NISBET, D.J., RICKE, S.C. ISOLATION OF SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM TN5 MUTANTS DEFECTIVE FOR SURVIVAL ON EGG SHELL SURGACE USING TRANSPOSON FOOTPRINTING. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH. 2003. v. 38. p. 103-109.

Interpretive Summary: Human foodborne illness caused by disease causing bacteria like Salmonella continues to be associated with poultry. Many of the Salmonella caused illnesses are associated with the consumption of eggs contaminated by Salmonella, with egg shell surfaces being identified as a source of this contamination. In this study we determined that a genetic technique called transposon foot printing can be used to identify genes that allow Salmonella to survive on egg shells. This knowledge will help scientists better understand how Salmonella survive in the environment and this understanding may help identify new methods to produce safer eggs.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to screen the genome of Salmonella typhimurium for genes potentially required for survival on egg shell surfaces using a novel transposon footprinting method based on a previously developed Tn5 mutagenesis technique. Since the amplified DNA fragment length should usually be unique for each mutant, the polymerase chain reaction products separated on an agarose gel generate a transposon footprint with each band in the footprint representing the corresponding Tn5 mutant. By comparing the footprints from the pools of S. typhimurium Tn5 mutants before and after inoculation on egg shell surfaces, Tn5 mutants not recovered after selection were rapidly identified for potential isolation and genetic analysis.