Specific Detection of Pathogenic Vibrio species in Shellfish by Using Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction
reham A. Amin, Amani Mohamed Salem · 2012
The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Vibrio spp. in shellfish using the traditional culture and multiplex PCR methods. This study was conducted on 40 samples of shrimp and crab (20 samples of each). The prevalence of Vibrio parahemoluticus in the examined shrimp and crab samples was found to be 20 and 30% by traditional culture method and 70 and 50% by m-PCR method, respectively, while the prevalence of Vibrio mimicus in the examined shrimp and crab samples was found to be 25 and 5% by m-PCR method, respectively and failed to be detected in all the examined samples by culture method. Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae failed to be detected in all the examined samples by both methods. The m-PCR procedure, which used five primers, produced specific amplicons of the expected sizes from mixed populations of Vibrio spp. in shellfish samples and from pure cultures. Overall, results of the present study indicated that the m-PCR is a potential technique for simple, rapid and reliable detection of the major Vibrio spp. for routine monitoring and risk assessment of shellfish.