DEVELOPMENT OF A RAPID,SENSITIVE AND SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION(PCR)METHOD FOR DETECTION OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES(LM)IN FOODS

[Objective]To establish a rapid,sensitive and specific polymerase chain reaction(PCR)method for detection of Listeria monocytogenes(LM)in food.[Methods]A pair of oligonucleotide primers was designed with hlyA gene as target sequence. Using the designed primers,LM and 10 strains of other bacteria were amplified by PCR,and the method was used to detect LM in 30 food samples.[Results]Amplified fragments showed excellent features of LM. The detection Limit of the method was 190cfu/ml in pure cultured broth.[Conclusions]The PCR technique is a simple,rapid,sensitive and specific method for detection of LM.