Methods and Compositions for Detecting Virulent and Avirulent Escherichia coli Strains

摘要

Disclosed herein are methods for detecting virulent Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains O26, O103, O121, and O111 in a biological sample comprising the steps of: (i) enriching the bacterial concentration of the biological sample to result in an enriched sample; (ii) isolating DNA from said enriched biological sample; and (iii) detecting virulent strain in said isolated DNA sample via real-time PCR and a melt curve assay. Also disclosed are primers for said assay, as well as kits comprising said primers.