A study of the potential application of digital PCR in the detection of fecal contamination of strawberries using Bacteroides markers

Authors

• Nicole Fernandez-Tejero, Florida International University
• Alyssa N. Sanchez, Florida International University
• Mirna Ghemrawi, Florida International University
• Catherine Bilodeau, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
• Sylvia Etim, Florida International University
• George Duncan, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
• Matt Cochran, Texas A&M University
• Bruce McCord, Florida International University

ORCID

0000-0002-8838-0858,

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Microbiological Methods

ISSN

1872-8359

Publication Date

9-2023

Keywords

Nanoplate digital PCR, Bacteroides, Fecal contamination

Abstract

Food-borne illnesses can result from contamination of agricultural products. In this study, we examined nanoplate digital PCR (dPCR) to test for fecal contamination of agricultural products. In nanoplate technique, the PCR mastermix is divided into 8.526,000 partitions, providing direct detection of individual DNA molecules, with correction by Poisson distribution. In this project, strawberries were inoculated with fecal material from animals, and the result detected by nanoplate digital PCR. A detection limit of 250 fg/uL was determined. Overall, dPCR offers a quick and sensitive method to detect contaminated produce.

DOI

10.1016/j.mimet.2023.106811

Volume

212

First Page

106811

Comments

The authors greatly appreciate support from Qiagen for the loan of a digital nanoplate PCR system.

© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.

NSUWorks Citation

Fernandez-Tejero, Nicole; Alyssa N. Sanchez; Mirna Ghemrawi; Catherine Bilodeau; Sylvia Etim; George Duncan; Matt Cochran; and Bruce McCord. 2023. "A study of the potential application of digital PCR in the detection of fecal contamination of strawberries using Bacteroides markers." Journal of Microbiological Methods 212, (): 106811. doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2023.106811.