Discrimination of from Other Species Using Specific Oligonucleotide Primers for the Pyruvate Carboxylase and Shikimate Dehydrogenase Genes.

is a useful bacterium in the food industry with applications as a starter strain for fermented food and as a probiotic. However, it is difficult to discriminate from other species because of high phenotypic and genetic similarity. In this study, we employed five previously constructed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) methods for the discrimination of from other species and all five MLST assays clearly distinguished . Additionally, the 17 housekeeping genes used in the five MLST assays also clearly distinguished . The pyruvate carboxylase () and shikimate dehydrogenase () genes were selected for the discrimination of because of their high number of polymorphic sites and the fact that they displayed the lowest homology among the 17 housekeeping genes. Specific primer sets for the and genes were designed and PCR products were specifically amplified from , demonstrating the high specificity of the two housekeeping genes for . This species-specific PCR method provides a quick, simple, powerful, and reliable alternative to conventional methods in the detection and identification of .