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Zoonoses Research Unit (ZRU)
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WSU ZRU
Listeria
monocytogenes transcriptome project |
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Listeria
monocytogenes is an important food-borne pathogen responsible
for approximately 500 deaths annually in the United States and its
presence in foodstuffs has resulted in a number of extensive food
recalls. Not all strains of L. monocytogenes are equally
capable of causing disease in humans and animals. For example,
during an epidemic outbreak some strains will cause severe disease
while other co-disseminated strains do not appear to cause any
disease.
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Therefore, determining what makes epidemic strains of L. monocytogenes virulent is critically important to devising
improved detection, subtyping, and intervention methods and
strategies. Our group recently identified a group of epidemic
strains of L. monocytogenes that are more infective in
an oral mouse challenge model compared with their environmental
counterparts. One explanation for this difference is that epidemic
strains are better able to withstand exposure to low pH and bile
encountered in the gastrointestinal tract as compared to most
environmental strains. In this study we are using whole genome
expression arrays to identify genes that are differentially
expressed under acid or bile stress and to determine if gene
expression differs between epidemic and environmental strains. These
experiments will involve a collection of 13 previously characterized
epidemic and environmental strains and the resulting study would
identify transcriptional signatures that distinguish these two
groups under defined stress conditions.
Return to Current Projects
Food and Waterborne Diseases Integrated Research Network
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 6610 Rockledge Drive, MSC 6612 Bethesda, MD 20892-6612
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National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892
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March 07, 2006
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