Isolation and detection of Listeria monocytogenes using fluorogenic and chromogenic substrates for phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C.

The BCM Listeria monocytogenes detection system (LMDS) consists of a selective preenrichment broth (LMPEB), selective enrichment broth (LMSEB), selective/differential plating medium (LMPM), and identification on a confirmatory plating medium (LMCM). The efficacy of the BCM LMDS was determined using pure cultures and naturally and artificially contaminated environmental sponges. The BCM LMPEB allowed the growth of Listeria and resuscitation of heat-injured L. monocytogenes. The BCM LMSEB, which contains the fluorogenic substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-myo-inositol-1-phosphate and detects phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity, provided a presumptive positive test for the presence of pathogenic Listeria (L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii) after 24 h at 35 degrees C. An initial inoculum of 10 to 100 CFU/ml of L. monocytogenes in BCM LMSEB yielded a fluorogenic response after 24 h. On BCM LMPM, L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii were the two Listeria species forming turquoise convex colonies (1.0 to 2.5 mm in diameter) from PI-PLC activity on the chromogenic substrate, 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoxyl-myo-inositol-1-phosphate. L. monocytogenes was distinguished from L. ivanovii by either its fluorescence on BCM LMCM or acid production from rhamnose. False-positive organisms (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus thuringiensis, and yeasts) were eliminated by at least one of the media in the BCM LMDS. Using a pure culture system, the BCM LMDS detected one to two L. monocytogenes cells from a sponge rehydrated in 10 ml of DE neutralizing broth. In an analysis of 162 environmental sponges from facilities inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the values for identification of L. monocytogenes by BCM LMDS and the USDA method were 30 and 14 sites, respectively, with sensitivity and specificity values of 85.7 and 100.0% versus 40.0 and 66.1%, respectively. No false-positive organisms were isolated by BCM LMDS, whereas 26.5% of the sponges tested by the USDA method produced false-positive results.