MI015-08 Genomic and virulence analyses of S. Tennessee outbreak

Salmonella A substantial increase in the reported incidence of isolates of serotype Tennessee in November 2006 was reported in the United States. The illness was strongly associated with consumption of peanut butter, which emerged as a new food source for salmonellosis. Over 600 persons infected Salmonella. Twenty percent with this serotype had been reported from 47 states since August 1, 2006 of patients were hospitalized; no deaths were attributed to Salmonella infection. Sixty-one percent of isolates were from stool specimens, 35% from urine specimens, and 4% from other specimens. Salmonella  Tennessee infections are rare compared to the common serotypes among the 2,500 Salmonella  serotypes. Therefore we hypothesize that the outbreak strain is a newly emerging with unusual sets of virulence.   We propose to characterize the molecular bases for the virulence by:1) Sequencing the genomes of representative outbreak strains using a new rapid gene sequencing ® technology, 2) SNPs analysis, 3) Phenotype microarray assays (BiOLOG) on SNP variants to link phenotype to genotype; and 4) Patterns of interaction with urinary system tissue culture cells. The results of this project proposed will address the phenotypic and genotypic attributes that may be related to the emergence of S. Tennessee from peanut butter