Research Publications (Food Safety)

Horizontal gene transfer is an important mechanism which facilitates bacterial populations in overcoming antimicrobial treatment. In this study, a total of 120 Escherichia coli and 62 Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica isolates were isolated from broiler chicken farms in Alberta. Fourteen serovars were identified among Salmonella isolates. Thirty one percent of E.

Commensal bacteria within the gut microbiome contribute to development of host tolerance to infection, however, identifying specific microbes responsible for this response is difficult. Here we describe methods for developing microfluidic organ-on-a-chip models of small and large intestine lined with epithelial cells isolated from duodenal, jejunal, ileal, or colon organoids derived from wild type or transgenic mice.

Within the landscape of globally distributed pathogens, populations differentiate via both adaptive and nonadaptive forces. Individual populations are likely to show unique trends of genetic diversity, host-pathogen interaction, and ecological adaptation. In plant pathogens, allopatric divergence may occur particularly rapidly within simplified agricultural monoculture landscapes.

Wastewater management in the Canadian Arctic is challenging due to climate extremes, small population sizes, and lack of conventional infrastructure for wastewater treatment. Although many northern communities use waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) as their primary form of wastewater treatment, few studies have explored WSP microbial communities and assessed effluent impacts on receiving waters from a microbiological perspective.

Metal contamination from mining or natural weathering is a common feature of surface waters in the American west. Advances in microbial analyses have created the potential for routine sampling of aquatic microbiomes as a tool to assess the quality of stream habitat. We sought to determine if microbiome diversity and membership were affected by metal contamination and identify candidate microbial taxa to be used to indicate metal stress in stream ecosystems.

Microbial resistance to processing treatments poses a food safety concern, as treatment tolerant pathogens can emerge. Occasional foodborne outbreaks caused by pathogenic Escherichia coli have led to human and economic losses. Therefore, this study screened for the extreme heat resistance (XHR) phenotype as well as one known genetic marker, the locus of heat resistance (LHR), in 4,123 E. coli isolates from diverse meat animals at different processing stages.

Biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAO) increase nutrient levels in soils to support the production of fruits and vegetables. BSAAOs may introduce or extend the survival of bacterial pathogens which can be transferred to fruits and vegetables to cause foodborne illness.

by Forrest C. Walker, Ebrahim Hassan, Stefan T. Peterson, Rachel Rodgers, Lawrence A. Schriefer, Cassandra E. Thompson, Yuhao Li, Gowri Kalugotla, Carla Blum-Johnston, Dylan Lawrence, Broc T. McCune, Vincent R. Graziano, Larissa Lushniak, Sanghyun Lee, Alexa N. Roth, Stephanie M. Karst, Timothy J. Nice, Jonathan J. Miner, Craig B. Wilen, Megan T. Baldridge

by Iliana Julieta Cortese, María Lorena Castrillo, Andrea Liliana Onetto, Gustavo Ángel Bich, Pedro Darío Zapata, Margarita Ester Laczeski

In this study, we established a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of viable Salmonella Typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes in milk using biotin-exposure-based immunomagnetic separation (IMS) combined with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), propidium monoazide (PMA), and multiplex real-time PCR (mRT-PCR). We used IMS to lessen the assay time for isolation of target bacteria. We then optimized the coupling conditions and immunomagnetic capture process.

Author(s): Zhenbo Xu, Ziqi Liu, Thanapop Soteyome, Jingjing Hua, Liang Zhang, Yanyan Li, Lei Yuan, Yanrui Ye, Zhao Cai, Liang Yang, Ling Chen, Janette M. Harro, Birthe Veno Kjellerup, Junyan Liu

Author(s): Esther De Rycke, Astrid Foubert, Peter Dubruel, Oleg I. Bol'hakov, Sarah De Saeger, Natalia Beloglazova

Author(s): Zhe-Yu Yang, Wei-Liang Chen

Author(s): Amin N. Olaimat, Mahmoud Abu Ghoush, Murad Al-Holy, Haneen Abu Hilal, Anas A. Al-Nabulsi, Tareq M. Osaili, Mutamed Ayyash, Richard A. Holley

Author(s): Qing Chen, Yaxin Liu, Ziyi Zhang, Ke Li, Bin Liu, Tianli Yue

Author(s): Bowen Chen, Jiaming Huang, Yang Liu, Haiquan Liu, Yong Zhao, Jing Jing Wang

Author(s): Jade Derrick, Philippa Hollinghurst, Sarah O'Brien, Nicola Elviss, David J. Allen, Miren Iturriza-Gómara

Author(s): Wenxuan Dong, Gang Liu, Kanglei Zhang, Yun Tan, Hui Zou, Yan Yuan, Jianhong Gu, Ruilong Song, Jiaqiao Zhu, Zongping Liu

Author(s): Fasih Ullah Haider, Jeffrey A. Coulter, Sardar Alam Cheema, Muhammad Farooq, Jun Wu, Renzhi Zhang, Guo Shuaijie, Cai Liqun

Author(s): Tingting Fan, Yanli Xie, Weibin Ma

Author(s): A.M. Ashcraft, M.E. Coles, L.C. Beer, B.D.M. Graham, G. Tellez-Isaias, B. Wooming, B.M. Hargis

Author(s): Tuomas Pylkkö, Polina Ilina, Päivi Tammela

Author(s): Xiongyi Miao, Yupei Hao, Hongwei Liu, Zhouqing Xie, Dan Miao, Xudong He

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are a type of natural phytotoxin that contaminate food and feed and become an environmental health risk to humans and livestock. PAs exert toxicity that requires metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A, and case reports showed that fetuses are quite susceptible to PAs toxicity.

The pathogen Salmonella enterica is a leading cause of infection worldwide. Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) serovars typically cause inflammatory diarrhea in healthy individuals, and can cause bacteremia in immunocompromised patients, children, and the elderly. Management of NTS infection poses a challenge because antibiotic treatment prolongs fecal shedding of the pathogen and is thus not recommended for most patients.