Analysis of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis molecular subtyping and serotyping of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in food

Objective To analyze the relationship between genotype and serotype of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from food in Shenzhen from 2007 to 2010 and develop primary molecular subtyping surveillance network of Vibrio parahaemolyticus.Methods The 55 strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from diarrhea patients containing important serotype O1-O4,chromosomal DNAs were digested with the restriction enzyme Sfi1,and then were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.Results The similarity of the 15 strains was over 90% and 9 strains with 100% similarity including 2 strains O2:K28,1 strain O1:KUT and 1 strain O4:K42,5 strains O3:K6.Other strains showed prominent difference.Conclusion Various Vibrio parahaemolyticus patterns exist in food and the relationship is scattered.The development of PFGE molecular subtyping surveillance network would contribute to the surveillance,outbreak investigation and source tracking for Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection.