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Direct Quantification and Distribution of Tetracycline‐Resistant Genes in Meat Samples by Real‐Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Author(s) -
Guarddon Mónica,
Miranda Jose M.,
Vázquez Beatriz I.,
Cepeda Alberto,
Franco Carlos M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2012.02777.x
Subject(s) - tetracycline , bacteria , food science , polymerase chain reaction , mesophile , enterobacteriaceae , biology , aerobic bacteria , real time polymerase chain reaction , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , gene , antibiotics , escherichia coli , biochemistry , genetics
Abstract: The evolution of antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria has become a threat to food safety and methods to control them are necessary. Counts of tetracycline‐resistant (TR) bacteria by microbiological methods were compared with those obtained by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in 80 meat samples. TR Enterobacteriaceae counts were similar between the count plate method and qPCR ( P = 0.24), whereas TR aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts were significantly higher by the microbiological method ( P < 0.001). The distribution of tet A and tet B genes was investigated in different types of meat. tet A was detected in chicken meat (40%), turkey meat (100%), pork (20%), and beef (40%) samples, whereas tet B was detected in chicken meat (45%), turkey meat (70%), pork (30%), and beef (35%) samples. The presence of tetracycline residues was also investigated by a receptor assay. This study offers an alternative and rapid method for monitoring the presence of TR bacteria in meat and furthers the understanding of the distribution of tet A and tet B genes.