Yoshiko Sugita-Konishi1, Naoki Kobayashi1, Kazuto Takasaki2, Takumi Kanno1, Miku Itoh1, Satoshi Futo2, Hiroshi Asakura3, Kensuke Taira4, Yasushi Kawakami1. 1. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan. 2. FASMAC CO., Ltd., 5-1-2, Midorigaoka, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0041, Japan. 3. Division of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26, Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-9501, Japan. 4. Department of Veterinary Sciences, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan.
Abstract
Game meat potentially harbors a number of parasitic and bacterial pathogens that cause foodborne disease. It is thus important to monitor the prevalence of such pathogens in game meats before retail and consumption to ensure consumer safety. In particular, Sarcocystis spp. and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) have been reported to be causative agents of food poisoning associated with deer meat consumption. To examine the prevalence of these microbiological agents on-site at a slaughterhouse, the rapid, simple and sensitive detection method known as the "DNA strip" has been developed, a novel tool combining loop-mediated isothermal amplification and a lateral flow strip. This assay has achieved higher sensitivity and faster than conventional PCR and is suitable for on-site inspection.
Game meat potentially harbors a number of parasitic and bacterial pathogens that cause foodborne disease. It is thus important to monitor the prevalence of such pathogens in game meats before retail and consumption to ensure consumer safety. In particular, Sarcocystis spp. and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) have been reported to be causative agents of food poisoning associated with deer meat consumption. To examine the prevalence of these microbiological agents on-site at a slaughterhouse, the rapid, simple and sensitive detection method known as the "DNA strip" has been developed, a novel tool combining loop-mediated isothermal amplification and a lateral flow strip. This assay has achieved higher sensitivity and faster than conventional PCR and is suitable for on-site inspection.
Due to increasing numbers of sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Japan, the
government recommends hunting these animals and consuming their meats as game meat in local
restaurants and retail meat shops [12]. However, since
Japanese abattoir law does not apply to the slaughter of game animals, the hunters must
dissect and inspect the game by themselves. To guarantee the meat’s sanitation, a easy and
quick assay that can be used during the slaughter of game animals to determine the presence of
foodborne agents is needed. Many rapidly assay methods have been developed for foodborne
bacteria, viruses and parasites, including immunochemical assays, conventional polymerase
chain reaction (PCR), real time PCR and the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
assay [18, 21,
28]. However, few of these methods have been
validated using deer meat.Outbreaks of food poisoning have been caused by parasites, bacteria and viruses associated
with the consumption of deer meat in Japan [1, 15, 24]. We recently
reported that Sarcocystis spp. was one of such causative agents of food
poisoning [14]. Kabeya et al. [13] also reported that Shiga toxin-producing
Escherichia coli (STEC) detected in the feces of sika deer possessed
potential human pathogenicity. Due to the high contamination frequency in meat or feces in
Japan, Sarcocystis spp. and STEC [9,
13] were chosen as the subjects in this study.Given this background, we developed an easy, rapid and sensitive assay for the detection of
Sarcocystis spp. and STEC in deer meat. The assay is called the “DNA strip”
[23] and may be useful for on-site inspection in
slaughterhouses.The “DNA strip” enables the detection of the amplification products by LAMP on a lateral flow
DNA strip and has been validated by Takasaki et al. [23]. Specific primers for the detection of Sarcocystis
spp. and STEC were designed by attaching unique oligonucleotides as a tag modification at the
5-terminal of the forward inner primer, while the 5′-terminal of the backward inner primer was
biotin-modified. In this way, successfully amplified target DNA will have unique
oligonucleotide tags attached and bind to immobilized complementary tags on the DNA strip. The
biotin will bond to streptavidin provided in the DNA strip buffer, generating blue color
enhancement.First, to confirm the performance of the “DNA strip” for the detection of 18S rRNA of
Sarcocystis spp. (SarcoR) as well as the Shiga toxin genes
(stx1 and stx2) of STEC, a LAMP assay was performed using
the Sarcocyctis spp. and STEC isolates in PBS solution. Cyst of
Sarcocystis spp. was collected from deer meat obtained from Yamanashi
Prefecture, Japan. The STEC O157:H7 strain NIHS0106, which possesses both the
stx1 and stx2 genes, was used as a positive control. These
DNA were extracted using a QIAamp DNA mini kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) according to the
manufacturer’s instructions. The DNA concentration was measured by a NanoDrop 1000
spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Wilmington, DE, U.S.A.), and the extracted
DNA was prepared at 10-fold dilution to be amplified with the reaction mixture. The reaction
mixture contained of 1.5x Isothermal Master Mix (OptiGene Ltd., West Sussex, U.K.), tagged
specific primer for the detection of Sarcocyctis spp. and STEC, respectively,
and 10 × template DNA. DNA amplification was performed for 60 min at 65°C. The tubes were put
on ice for a minimum of 5 min to avoid contamination by completely stopping the reaction and
performing evaporation at the end of the amplification. The amplification product (1
µl) was diluted 40-fold with distilled water and then mixed with 20
µl of development solution containing Latex beads (TBA Co., Ltd., Sendai,
Japan). The DNA strip was dipped into the solution for 15 min, and the results were determined
visually. The specific primer of SarcoR in Sarcocystis spp.
and stx1 and stx2 in STEC for the LAMP assay are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1.
The sequences and modification of the LAMP and PCR primers used in this
study
According to a previous paper, some species of Sarcocystis have been
parasitic to Japanese sika deer [9], such as S.
wapiti, S. sybillensis, and S. hofmanni. However,
except for S. wapiti, the DNA sequences of these species have never deposited
in databases, so the sequences of the predominant Sarcocystis species in deer
meat obtained from Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, were determined in order to construct LAMP
primers for SarcoR.The 18S rRNA region was PCR-amplified from DNA extracted from deer meat using universal 18S
rRNA region primers, as described by Pritt et al. [20], that were able to detect the 18S rRNA region of
Sarcocystis spp. universally (Table
1). We then followed by cloning into pCRTM 2.1-TOPO® in
E. coli TOP10 obtained from the TOPO® TA Cloning Kit for
Sequencing (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.). The successful transformants were then subjected
to a cycle sequencing reaction using the BigDye terminator in an ABI 3730×l system to
determine the target gene sequences. Finally, six sequences were obtained (LC405946-LC405951),
and the LAMP primers were designed based on the obtained consensus sequences using a LAMP
Designer (OptiGene, Ltd.). We used the oligonucleotide primers for the stx1
and stx2 genes reported elsewhere [6].
As shown in Fig. 1, we first evaluated the detection performance of the three target genes by LAMP-DNA
strip testing. The results indicated that these genes could be discriminated on the DNA strip
based on the attached tag sequences.
Fig. 1.
Performance of the DNA strip for the detection of the Sarcocystis spp.
18S rRNA gene (SarcoR) and the stx1 and
stx2 genes. The template DNA was prepared from a cyst of
Sarcocystis spp. or STEC O157:H7 strain NIHS0106. The primer mix:1,2:
Sarco R, 3,4: stx 1, 5,6:
stx 2 and 1,3 and 4 was with template. The arrow indicates each LAMP
product.
Performance of the DNA strip for the detection of the Sarcocystis spp.
18S rRNA gene (SarcoR) and the stx1 and
stx2 genes. The template DNA was prepared from a cyst of
Sarcocystis spp. or STEC O157:H7 strain NIHS0106. The primer mix:1,2:
Sarco R, 3,4: stx 1, 5,6:
stx 2 and 1,3 and 4 was with template. The arrow indicates each LAMP
product.Next, to determine the limit of detection (LOD) of this assay for both targets, LODs of
conventional PCR for these targets were compared using various concentrations of bradizoids
and the STEC strain. Conventional PCR for the rRNA of Sarcocystis spp. and
for the stx1 and stx2 genes was performed according to the
method of Pritt et al. [20] and
Nielsen et al. [19], respectively. The
bradizoids were prepared from Sarcocystis spp. according to the previous
paper [9]. The Sarcocystis spp. (3.6 ×
105 bradizoids/ml) or STEC strain (3.4 × 108
cfu/ml) was added to PBS containing 10% deer meat extract that had been
confirmed to be free from Sarcocystis spp. as well as STEC and the solutions
were diluted serially. The DNA in these dilutions was extracted using a QIAamp DNA mini kit
(QIAGEN). In STEC, all serial dilutions of extracted DNA were used for this assay and
conventional PCR. In Sarcocystis spp., dilutions from 3.6 × 105 to
3.6 × 101 bradizoids/ml were used for both assays. As a negative
control, 10% deer meat extract alone in PBS was used. As a positive control for conventional
PCR, 3.4 × 108 cfu/ml in PBS for STEC or a cyst of
Sarcocystis spp. with 3.6 × 106 bradizoids/ml
(data not shown) in PBS was used.As shown in Fig. 2, the visual LOD of bradizoids in this assay was determined to be 3.6 × 103
bradizoids/ml (Fig. 2A), which
was 100 times more efficient than that of conventional PCR (Fig. 2B). The negative control showed no visual signals. The difference in the
sensitivity seemed to be due to the amplification efficiency and detection procedure.
Fig. 2.
Sensitivity of (A) the DNA strip and (B) conventional PCR forthe detection of the 18S
rRNA gene of Sarcocystis spp. 1: 3.6 × 105
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 2: 3.6 × 104
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 3: 3.6 × 103
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 4: 3.6 × 102
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 5: 3.6 × 101
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 6: negative sample (10% deer
meat extract only), 7: positive sample (Sarcocyst) in PBS. M: molecular marker,
SarcoR: Sarcocystis spp.18S rRNA gene.
Sensitivity of (A) the DNA strip and (B) conventional PCR forthe detection of the 18S
rRNA gene of Sarcocystis spp. 1: 3.6 × 105
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 2: 3.6 × 104
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 3: 3.6 × 103
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 4: 3.6 × 102
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 5: 3.6 × 101
bradizoids/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 6: negative sample (10% deer
meat extract only), 7: positive sample (Sarcocyst) in PBS. M: molecular marker,
SarcoR: Sarcocystis spp.18S rRNA gene.The LODs of the stx1 and stx2 genes with the DNA strip were
3.4 × 104 and 3.4 × 103 cfu/ml of STEC, respectively
(Fig. 3A). In contrast, the LODs of these genes with conventional PCR were 3.4 ×
106 cfu/ml of STEC for both targets (Fig. 3B). The results revealed that the DNA strip showed 100- and
1000-fold greater sensitivity for the stx1 and stx2 genes,
respectively, than conventional PCR. Our previous study revealed that the LAMP assay showed
increased sensitivity for the detection of the stx1 and stx2
genes from STEC O157 compared with real-time PCR [26].
The difference in sensitivity is likely related to the high performance of the LAMP procedure
in the DNA strip.
Fig. 3.
Sensitivity of (A) the DNA strip and (B) conventional PCR for the detection of
stx1 and stx2 genes. 1: 3.4 × 108
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 2: 3.4 × 107
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 3: 3.4 × 106
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 4: 3.4 × 105
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 5: 3.4 × 104
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 6: 3.4 × 103
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 7: 3.4 × 102
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 8: negative sample (10% deer meat
extract only), 9: positive sample (3.4 × 108/ml in PBS),
M: molecular marker.
Sensitivity of (A) the DNA strip and (B) conventional PCR for the detection of
stx1 and stx2 genes. 1: 3.4 × 108
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 2: 3.4 × 107
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 3: 3.4 × 106
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 4: 3.4 × 105
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 5: 3.4 × 104
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 6: 3.4 × 103
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 7: 3.4 × 102
CFU/ml in 10% deer meat extract, 8: negative sample (10% deer meat
extract only), 9: positive sample (3.4 × 108/ml in PBS),
M: molecular marker.The specificity of the DNA strip for each hazard was examined. To validate the specificity
for stx1 and stx2 genes in STEC, DNA extracts obtained from
genera non-Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria were
used. To investigate the specificity of Sarcocystis spp. in Japanese sika
deer, DNA extracts obtained from the closely related genera (Toxoplasma
gondii, Theileria parva) and Sarcocystis fayeri
were used. As shown in Table 2, none of the bacterial DNA extracts used in this experiment showed cross
reactions, suggesting that the DNA strip had high sensitivity for the stx1
and stx2 genes in STEC. However, the DNA strip showed cross-reactions for
T. gondii and S. fayeri, but not T.
parva, demonstrating that our primer reacted with the 18S rRNA of T. gondii
and S. fayeri because the 18S rRNA of these parasites were similar. And T.
gondii has been reported to infect in Japanese sika deer [4] and cause food poisoning [16]. The
results also suggested that this DNA strip might be applicable to the detection of
Sarcocystis spp. in other animals, including wild deer and T.
gondii.
Table 2.
The specificity of DNA strip for detection of Sarcocystis spp. and
STEC in Japanese sika deer
Subject of DNA strip
Strain
Species
Cross reaction
STEC
PE7
EAECa)
Negative
HP1001
EPECb)
Negative
WHO1
ETECc)
Negative
NIHS_00214
STEC O157: H7 stx (−)
Negative
NIHS_00069
Salmonella Enteritidis
Negative
ATCC8739
Commensal E. coli
Negative
ATCC43864
Citrobacter freundii
Negative
ATCC10145
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Negative
Lm0132
Listeria monocytogenes
Negative
Sarcocystis spp.
AFSS-0002
Sarcocystis fayeri
Positive
RH strain (NIHS)
Toxoplasma gondii
Positive
AV-Tp001
Theileria parva
Negative
a) EAEC: enteroaggregative Escherichia coli, b) EPEC: enteropathogenic
Escherichia coli, c) ETEC: enterotoxigenic Escherichia
coli.
a) EAEC: enteroaggregative Escherichia coli, b) EPEC: enteropathogenic
Escherichia coli, c) ETEC: enterotoxigenic Escherichia
coli.Finally, we assessed the prevalence of Sarcocystis spp. and STEC in a total
of 47 samples of meat from deer that had been slaughtered and processed in Yamanashi
Prefecture, Japan using the DNA strip in combination with the conventional PCR approach.
Toxoplasma gondii in serum was examined for 36 samples out of 47 samples
using commercial ELISA kit (ID Screen® Toxoplasmosis Indirect Multi-species,
ID.Vet, Grabels, France). As shown in Table
3, 32 samples were positive for conventional PCR while 37 samples were positive
for the DNA strip, and T. gondii was negative in all samples assayed.
Therefore it is considered that the positive samples in this study were contaminated with
Sarcocystis spp. predominantly. Since the negative samples detected by the
DNA strip were also negative on conventional PCR, we concluded that the DNA strip was able to
detect Sarcocystis spp. from deer meat more efficiently than conventional
PCR. Parallel experiments revealed that no STEC were detected in either assay. We previously
reported that STEC OUT:H25 was isolated from only 1 out of 120 venison samples [2]. This suggests that the prevalence rates of STEC in deer
meat might be less than roughly 1–2%.
Table 3.
Comparison of conventional PCR and DNA strip for detection of
Sarcocyctis spp., Toxoplasma gondii and STEC in
Japanese sika deer
SampleNo.
Sex
Sarcocystis spp.
Toxoplasma gondii
STEC
Conventional PCR
DNA strip
ELISA
Conventional PCR
DNA strip
1
M
-
-
NT
-
-
2
F
-
-
NT
-
-
3
M
-
-
NT
-
-
4
M
-
-
NT
-
-
5
F
-
-
NT
-
-
6
M
-
+
NT
-
-
7
M
-
-
NT
-
-
8
F
+
+
NT
-
-
9
F
+
+
-
-
-
10
F
+
+
-
-
-
11
F
-
-
-
-
-
12
M
-
-
-
-
-
13
F
+
+
-
-
-
14
F
+
+
NT
-
-
15
F
+
+
-
-
-
16
M
+
+
-
-
-
17
F
+
+
-
-
-
18
F
+
+
-
-
-
19
M
+
+
-
-
-
20
F
+
+
-
-
-
21
M
+
+
-
-
-
22
M
+
+
-
-
-
23
M
+
+
-
-
-
24
M
-
+
-
-
-
25
M
-
+
-
-
-
26
F
+
+
-
-
-
27
F
+
+
-
-
-
28
F
+
+
-
-
-
29
F
+
+
-
-
-
30
F
+
+
-
-
-
31
F
-
+
-
-
-
32
F
+
+
-
-
-
33
F
-
-
-
-
-
34
F
+
+
-
-
-
35
F
+
+
-
-
-
36
M
+
+
-
-
-
37
F
+
+
-
-
-
38
F
+
+
-
-
-
39
M
+
+
-
-
-
40
F
-
+
-
-
-
41
unknown
+
+
-
-
-
42
M
+
+
-
-
-
43
F
-
-
-
-
-
44
M
+
+
-
-
-
45
unknown
+
+
-
-
-
46
unknown
+
+
NT
-
-
47
unknown
+
+
NT
-
-
Total number of positive sample
32
37
0
0
0
NT, not tested; +, positive; -, negative.
NT, not tested; +, positive; -, negative.In slaughterhouses for game meat in Japan, self-sanitation systems are needed to ensure
excellent food hygiene, as laws concerning slaughter are not applied to these meats. Therefore
on-site sanitary check systems should be required. Since the DNA strip method is rapid (within
60 min after DNA extraction), simple, and requires no special equipment, it will prove a
promising method for on-site investigations in slaughterhouses.Game meat, including deer meat, carries many different risk factors for food poisoning.
Sarcocystis spp. is one such novel intrinsic risk factor for food poisoning
[10]. We previously reported the presence of at least
four species of Sarcocystis spp. in Japanese sika deer meat samples obtained
from Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan [9], and designed our
primers based on information in the 18S rRNA region of the predominant
Sarcocystis spp., among the 21 reported species. The
results of cross-reaction experiment suggested that DNA strip for Sarcocystis
spp. could be applied to other species of deer [8, 22] and T. gondii. However, whether or not
the stx1 and stx2 gene primers used in this study
collectively detect a series of stx variants is unclear. As deer-originating
STEC can show variations in their stx genotypes [3, 5, 7, 11, 13], further studies will be required to clarify the above issues and expand the
application of this detection method.Despite these issues, the DNA strip approach developed in this study has several advantages,
including its rapidity, multiplicity, and no need for special equipment, over other detection
methods, such as conventional PCR, immunochromatography, and real-time PCR. Of further note,
LAMP-lateral flow combined assays have also been recently developed for the detection of
several other pathogenic microbes, such as Toxoplasma [17] and Staphylococcus aureus [25, 27].In conclusion, our study showed that the “DNA strip” was able to detect
Sarcocystis spp. and STEC in deer meat with high sensitivity. However, the
improvement for the specificity of DNA strips is required to achieve specific reaction of the
pathogens. Nevertheless, the application of this system will enable the quick and simple
on-site inspection of food poisoning factors in deer meat.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.