Impact of beef extract used for sample concentration on the detection of Escherichia coli DNA in water samples via qPCR

Bernardino Machado-Moreira; Silvia Monteiro; Ricardo Santos; Antonio Martinez-Murcia; Andreja Rajkovic; Nada Smigic; Karl G Richards; Florence Abram; Catherine M Burgess

doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2019.105786

Impact of beef extract used for sample concentration on the detection of Escherichia coli DNA in water samples via qPCR

J Microbiol Methods. 2020 Jan:168:105786. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2019.105786. Epub 2019 Nov 23.

Authors

Bernardino Machado-Moreira¹, Silvia Monteiro², Ricardo Santos², Antonio Martinez-Murcia³, Andreja Rajkovic⁴, Nada Smigic⁵, Karl G Richards⁶, Florence Abram⁷, Catherine M Burgess⁸

Affiliations

¹ Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland; Functional Environmental Microbiology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
² Laboratório de Análises, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
³ University Miguel Hernandez and Genetic PCR Solutions™, Alicante, Spain.
⁴ Department of Food Safety and Food Quality Management, University of Belgrade-Faculty of Agriculture, Serbia; Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University; Belgium.
⁵ Department of Food Safety and Food Quality Management, University of Belgrade-Faculty of Agriculture, Serbia.
⁶ Teagasc Johnstown Castle Environmental Research Centre, Wexford, Ireland.
⁷ Functional Environmental Microbiology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁸ Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland. Electronic address: Kaye.burgess@teagasc.ie.

PMID: 31770538
DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2019.105786

Abstract

There is increasing interest in methodologies for the simultaneous concentration and detection of multiple targets in individual samples. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential presence of E. coli DNA in beef extract powder used as part of a procedure to concentrate water samples for the simultaneous detection of bacteria, viruses and protozoa. DNA from E. coli was detected in five out of six beef extract lots tested, demonstrating the limitations of its inclusion when being used in assays that will be used for the detection of E. coli in water samples. Further work is required to clarify if this phenomenon also occurs for other microorganisms of interest in water.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Colony Count, Microbial
DNA, Bacterial / genetics
DNA, Bacterial / isolation & purification*
Escherichia coli O157 / genetics*
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction*
Red Meat*
Specimen Handling / methods
Water Microbiology*

Substances

DNA, Bacterial