Soil Collected from a Single Great Smoky Mountains Trail Contains a Diversity of Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria spp.

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious systemic illness that, although rare, usually results in hospitalization and has a relatively high mortality rate compared to other foodborne pathogens. Identification of novel and diverse Listeria spp. can provide insights into the genomic evolution, ecology, and evolution and variance of pathogenicity of this genus, especially in natural environments.