Detection of vvhA Gene of Vibrio vulnificus and trh Virulence Genes of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from Samples of Ostrea edulis Collected from the Black Sea using a PCR-Based Method

摘要

Ostrea edulis,also known as the European flat oyster,is a well-known freshly-consumed food product,pertaining to the human diet for centuries.Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificu.s represent two foodborne pathogens with pronounced lethality,usually found to be optimally developing in estuaries.where this oyster species is normally collected for food purposes,in the end the risk for the consumer's health being a high one through the consumption of this food product.In this study,a number of 200 samples of European flat oyster was collected and analyzed using a polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based method,in order to detect the presence and isolate the targeted foodborne pathogens.In a secondary step,the PCR-based method was used to reveal the presence of the specific virulence genes,vvhA for V.vulnificus,and trh1 and trh2 genes of V.parahaemohticu.s.The results revealed that 46 samples were positive for the presence of V.parahaemohticus.of which 23 were positive for the presence of trh1 and 18 for trh2.Considering V.vulnificus,38 samples out of 100 were positive,of which 34 presented the vvhA virulence gene.These data suggest that the European flat oysters represent a high risk for the consumer's health,not only through the presence of two of the most important foodborne pathogens in Europe and worldwide,but mainly through the presence of the specific virulence genes.