Pseudomonas aeruginosa owns a variability of virulence factors. These factors can increase bacterial pathogenicity and infection severity. Despite the importance of knowledge about them, these factors are not more characterized at level of strains derived from local food products. This study aimed to characterize the virulence potential of P. aeruginosa isolated from various animal products. Several structural and virulence genes of P. aeruginosa including lasB, exoS, algD, plcH, pilB, exoU, and nan1 were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on 204 strains of P. aeruginosa. They were isolated from bovine meat (122), fresh fish (49), and smoked fish (33). The 16S rRNA gene was detected on 91.1% of the presumptive strains as Pseudomonas. The rpoB gene showed that 99.5% of the strains were P. aeruginosa. The lasB gene (89.2%) was the most frequently detected (p < 0.05). In decreasing importance order, exoS (86.8%), algD (72.1%), plcH (72.1%), pilB (40.2%), and exoU (2.5%) were detected. The lasB gene was detected in all strains of P. aeruginosa serogroups O11 and O16. The prevalence of algD, exoS, and exoU genes in these strains varied from 51.2% to 87.4%. The simultaneous determination of serogroups and virulence factors is of interest for the efficacy of surveillance of infections associated with P. aeruginosa.
Keywords: PCR; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; bovine meat; fresh fish; serogroups; smoked fish; virulence.