Affiliation:
1. Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, University of León, 24071 León, Spain
2. Laboratório Associado, CBQF—Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal
Abstract
Bacillus cereus is estimated to be responsible for 1.4–12% of all food poisoning outbreaks worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the toxigenic potential of 181 isolates of B. cereus previously recovered from different types of berries and berry products (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries) by assessing the presence of enterotoxin genes (hblA, hblC, hblD, nheA, nheB, nheC, and cytK) and an emetic toxin cereulide synthetase gene (ces). The cytotoxic activity on Caco-2 cells was also evaluated for the two isolates containing the gene cytK. Twenty-three toxigenic profiles were found. The nheABC (91.7%) and hblACD (89.0%) complexes were the most prevalent among the isolates, while the cytK and ces genes were detected in low percentages, 1.1% and 3.3%, respectively. In addition, the nheABC/hblACD complex and ces genes were detected in isolates recovered throughout the production process of blackberries and strawberries. The cytotoxic activity on Caco-2 cells was also observed to be greater than 60% for isolates containing the cytK gene.
Funder
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
Subject
Plant Science,Health Professions (miscellaneous),Health (social science),Microbiology,Food Science