Evaluation of Two Direct Plating Methods Using Nonradioactive Probes for Enumeration of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Oysters

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Abstract
Oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) were collected monthly from May 1998 to April 1999 from Mobile Bay, Ala., and analyzed to determine Vibrio parahaemolyticus densities at zero time and after 5, 10, and 24 h of postharvest storage at 26°C. After 24 h of storage at 26°C, oysters were transferred to a refrigerator at 3°C and then analyzed 14 to 17 days later. The V. parahaemolyticus numbers were determined by the most-probable-number procedure using alkaline phosphatase-labeled DNA probe VPAP, which targets the species-specific thermolabile hemolysin gene ( tlh ), to identify suspect isolates (MPN-VPAP procedure). Two direct plating methods, one using a VPAP probe (Direct-VPAP) and one using a digoxigenin-labeled probe (Direct-VPDig) to identify suspect colonies, were compared to the MPN-VPAP procedure. The results of the Direct-VPAP and Direct-VPDig techniques were highly correlated ( r = 0.91), as were the results of the Direct-VPAP and MPN-VPAP procedures ( r = 0.91). The correlation between the Direct-VPDig and MPN-VPAP results was 0.85. The two direct plating methods in which nonradioactive DNA probes were used were equivalent to the MPN-VPAP procedure for identification of total V. parahaemolyticus , and they were more rapid and less labor-intensive.

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