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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2007, p. 835-846, Vol. 45, No. 3
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01575-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multi-Virulence-Locus Sequence Typing Identifies Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Which Differentiate Epidemic Clones and Outbreak Strains of Listeria monocytogenes

Department of Food Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802,¹ National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Summit, Illinois 60501²

Received 31 July 2006/ Returned for modification 30 September 2006/ Accepted 22 December 2006

A recently developed multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (MVLST) method showed improved discriminatory power for subtyping genetically diverse Listeria monocytogenes isolates and identified epidemic clone II isolates associated with two recent U.S. multistate listeriosis outbreaks. To evaluate the ability of MVLST to distinguish other epidemic clones and outbreak strains of L. monocytogenes, 58 outbreak-related isolates from 14 outbreaks and 49 unrelated isolates were analyzed. Results showed that MVLST provided very high discriminatory power (0.99), epidemiological concordance (1.0), stability, and typeability. MVLST accurately identified three previously known epidemic clones (epidemic clones I, II, and III) and redefined another epidemic clone (epidemic clone IV) in serotype 4b of L. monocytogenes. A set of 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) differentiated all epidemiologically unrelated isolates. A subset of 16 SNPs differentiated all epidemic clones and outbreak strains. Phylogenetic analysis showed congruence between MVLST clusters, serotypes, and previously defined genetic lineages of L. monocytogenes. SNPs in virulence genes appear to be excellent molecular markers for the epidemiological investigation of epidemics and outbreaks caused by L. monocytogenes.

Published ahead of print on 10 January 2007.

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