Genetic characterization of thermal tolerance in Enterobacter sakazakii

Enterobacter sakazakii is an opportunistic pathogen that causes meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates. Here we characterized the thermal tolerance of E. sakazakii isolates obtained from powdered infant formula and other food products in Japan. Isolates were categorized into three classes according to their thermal tolerance, and differential gene expression analysis showed that the heat-resistant clones expressed a higher level of infB (which encodes a translation initiation factor), than did the heat-sensitive isolates. Gene expression and DNA polymorphism analyses suggested that this gene target might be useful to unequivocally detect and identify heat-resistant clones, permitting epidemiological surveillance for this pathogen.