Fraccalvieri, Rosa;
Bianco, Angelica;
Difato, Laura Maria;
Capozzi, Loredana;
Del Sambro, Laura;
Simone, Domenico;
Catanzariti, Roberta;
Caruso, Marta;
Galante, Domenico;
Normanno, Giovanni;
Palazzo, Lucia;
Tempesta, Maria;
Parisi, Antonio
Toxigenic Genes, Pathogenic Potential and Antimicrobial Resistance of Bacillus cereus Group Isolated from Ice Cream and Characterized by Whole Genome Sequencing
You can manage bookmarks using lists, please log in to your user account for this.
Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Toxigenic Genes, Pathogenic Potential and Antimicrobial Resistance of Bacillus cereus Group Isolated from Ice Cream and Characterized by Whole Genome Sequencing
Contributor:
Fraccalvieri, Rosa;
Bianco, Angelica;
Difato, Laura Maria;
Capozzi, Loredana;
Del Sambro, Laura;
Simone, Domenico;
Catanzariti, Roberta;
Caruso, Marta;
Galante, Domenico;
Normanno, Giovanni;
Palazzo, Lucia;
Tempesta, Maria;
Parisi, Antonio
Published:
MDPI AG, 2022
Published in:
Foods, 11 (2022) 16, Seite 2480
Language:
English
DOI:
10.3390/foods11162480
ISSN:
2304-8158
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
Bacillus cereus is isolated from a variety of foods where it may cause food spoilage and/or food poisoning due to its toxigenic and pathogenic nature. In this study, we identified members of B. cereus groups in 65% of the ice cream samples analyzed, which were characterized based on multi locus variable number tandem repeats analysis (MLVA) and whole genome sequencing (WGS). The MLVA revealed that 36 strains showed different allelic profiles. Analyses of WGS data enabled the identification of three members of the B. cereus group: B. cereus sensu stricto, B. mosaicus and B. thuringiensis. Based on the multi locus sequence typing (MLST) scheme, the strains were classified in 27 sequence types (STs), including ST26 that causes food poisoning. Toxin genes’ detection revealed the presence of the genes encoding nonhemolytic enterotoxin (NHE), hemolysin BL (HBL), cytotoxin K (cytK) and cereulide (ces) in 100%, 44%, 42% and 8% of the strains, respectively. The identification of eleven antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes predicted the resistance to five different antimicrobials, and the resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics was confirmed with a phenotypic antimicrobial test. Taken together, the results showed that the B. cereus strains isolated from ice cream were a potential hazard for consumer safety.