DNA probe for detecting Salmonella enteritidis in food.

Salmonellosis is the most frequently reported foodborne illness in the United States, with Salmonella enteritidis being the leading cause of these outbreaks. Nucleotide sequence comparisons of the Salmonella plasmid virulence (spv) genes of S. enteritidis with those of S. typhimurium and S. dublin have revealed that a single base-pair change unique to S. enteritidis is present in the spvA gene. An 18-base synthetic oligonucleotide probe (SE-probe) that is completely homologous to the spvA gene of S. enteritidis but which has one base pair mismatch with other salmonellae was shown to be specific for S. enteritidis. In colony hybridization blots, 129 isolates of S. enteritidis, 29 other species of Salmonella, and 17 non-Salmonella spp. were tested with the SE-probe. The SE-probe hybridized with 96% of the S. enteritidis strains tested but did not react with the other Salmonella or non-Salmonella strains. These data suggest that the SE-probe can be used in a specific and rapid detection assay for S. enteritidis.