PathoGenetix, Inc., a commercial stage developer of an automated system for rapid bacterial identification, has successfully identified and strain typed a collection of 250 pathogenic E. coli strains obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) using the company's Genome Sequence Scanning™ (GSS™) technology. The findings are detailed in a poster presented at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Denver on Monday.The 250 E. coli strains, which included the most frequently isolated STEC (Shiga toxin producing E.coli ) serotypes from both sporadic cases and multiple foodborne illness outbreaks, were run on the company's prototype Genome Sequence Scanning system. The results showed that the system could be used to reliably differentiate and strain type STECs of public health and food safety significance, and aid in epidemiological investigation and response in foodborne illness outbreaks.The GSS generated phylogenetic tree clearly delineated the major STEC serotypes, and generally clustered the 250 strains into their appropriate serotype specific branches. Strains that originated from the same foodborne illness outbreak also clustered together on the phylogenetic tree, demonstrating the system's ability to differentiate outbreak clusters from each other and from epidemiologically unrelated strains.

The strain information provided by GSS was comparable to pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), the current standard for pathogen typing in foodborne illness outbreak investigation and response. Genome Sequence Scanning isolates and analyzes genomic DNA from either a complex mixture or a pure culture provides strain type information and predicts the bacterial serotype in five hours, days faster than current identification methods.

The GSS technology will be commercially available in 2014 in PathoGenetix's RESOLUTION™ Microbial Genotyping System.

Click here to view ASM poster 'Molecular Strain Typing of Shiga-toxigenic E.coli by Genome Sequence Scanning.