• Dr. Nikita Sharma
• Mansi Mahajan
• Prof. Alka Prakash

Cronobacter species is acclaimed as one of the major causes of foodborne illness or food poisoning in humans. Cronobacter sakazakii is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause potentially fatal infections like meningitis, bacteremia, necrotizing enterocolitis and bloodstream infections mainly in newborns of less than four weeks of age and in adults with a weak immune system. This study targeted one housekeeping gene GroEL, two virulent genes OmpA and Cpa, a ribosomal gene RpoB and an enzyme encoding gene CgcA in order to develop a PCR based gene marker for rapid detection and identification of C. sakazakii. Our results showed that all the five selected genes GroEL, OmpA, Cpa, RpoB and CgcA amplified in case of Cronobacter sakazakii and all the ten isolates from milk and milk products while amplification of only two genes GroEL and RpoB was observed in E. coli and S. typhimurium. In this study, the genes GroEL, OmpA, Cpa, RpoB and CgcA were selected for identification of C. sakazakii as they are useful targets for bacterial identification and phylogenetic studies. The evaluation of the specificity of the primers with C. sakazakii and non-specific bacteria were carried out using BLAST program of NCBI. With the selected species-specific primers amplified product was observed C. sakazakii. This PCR based assay can be used to precisely identify C. sakazakii.

C. sakazakii, PCR, OmpA, GroEL, Cpa, RpoB, CgcA

"PCR Based Gene Marker For Quick Detection And Identification Of Cronobacter sakazakii ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 4, page no.g166-g173, April-2024, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2404617.pdf

"PCR Based Gene Marker For Quick Detection And Identification Of Cronobacter sakazakii ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 4, page no. ppg166-g173, April-2024, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2404617.pdf