CoE on Listeria
Centre of Excellence and Innovation in Biotechnology
Translational Centre for Molecular Epidemiology of Listeria monocytogenes (TranceLis)
Multi-institutional Network Programme
Lead Institute
ICAR-CCARI
Old Goa 403402
Sponsored by
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
ICAR - CCARI, Old Goa has been recognized as Centre of Excellence and Innovation in Biotechnology by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for “Translational Centre for Molecular Epidemiology of Listeria monocytogenes”. The project has been sanctioned under multi-institutional network mode.
Lead Institute:ICAR - CCARI, Old Goa
Collaborating Institutes:
1. Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar,
2. ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Barapani, Shillong
3. Nagpur Veterinary College, MAFSU, Nagpur.
Listeria
The genus Listeria, together with the genus Brochotrix, belongs to the Listeriaceae
family, the order Bacillales, the class Bacilli and the phylum Firmicute. The genus Listeria comprises a group of gram-positive bacteria, closely related to the phylum Firmicutes including Bacillus, Clostridium, Enterococcus, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus. Listeria spp. are isolated from a wide range of environmental sources, including soil, water, effluents, food products, decaying vegetation and feces of animals and human beings. The natural habitat is suspected to be decomposing plant material, where the live as saprophytes in conjunction with other soil bacteria and many invertebrate species.
Today, the genus Listeria comprises the following ten species: L. monocytogenes, L. innocua, L. ivanovii subsp. ivanovii and, L. ivanovii subsp. londoniensis, L. seeligeri, L. welshimeri, L. grayi, and recently described L. marthii, L. rocourtiae, L. weihenstephanensis and L. fleischmannii.
Foodborne listeriosis in India
Reports of listeriosis in India are scanty, either because of failure to identify the isolate, its rarity, improper isolation techniques, low incidence rate or lack of awareness. The epidemiological data available in the country to date is neither adequate nor reliable for assessing the extent of infection in human beings and animals, because it is based on conventional diagnostic tests which show considerable cross-reactivity. The disease largely remains undiagnosed and under reported, mainly because of the non-availability of a reliable, rapid and simple diagnostic test.
The occurrence of listeric infections in the Indian subcontinent has been extensively reviewed (Malik et al., 2002; Barbuddhe et al., 2012). Listeriolysin O based ELISA and interferon-g assay have been developed for diagnosis of listeriosis in animals. L. monocytogenes has been isolated from cases of mastitis, reproductive disorders and septicaemia in animals.
Listeria monocytogenes has been found to be one of the etiological factors in the causation of abortions and premature births.
The Vision of the Centre
Listeriosis is an important bacterial zoonosis, which occurs in a variety of animals including humans, and arises mainly from the ingestion of contaminated food and water. It is a serious invasive disease, which leads to septicaemia, abortion, stillbirth, perinatal infections, meningitis, gastroenteritis and meningoencephalitis, especially in immunocompromised individuals and in persons in contact with animals.
In India, studies on molecular epidemiological aspects of Listeria monocytogenes are largely lacking. The question is why there are no major foodborne outbreaks of listeriosis in India in spite of high occurrence in foods? What are the different serotypes prevalent in India? What is the genetic variability among different strains? The proposal envisages to address these questions by investigating epidemiological and evolutionary relationships between Listeria species and to define characteristics of particularly successful clonal pathovariants for causing disease. Recently, the pathogen has been listed under Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011 by Government of India. Under the rules, is now mandatory to look for the presence of the pathogen in foods to be exported and imported.
In India, no reference laboratory for listeriosis currently exists. The proposal will help to establish molecular diagnostic facilities for listeriosis in humans and animals in India. Application of molecular techniques will help to decipher the virulence clusters prevalent in India that in turn may be utilized to develop control strategies against listeriosis. The establishment of diagnostic facilities would be helpful to provide backup to the Indian food industry in terms of risk assessment and risk analysis of foods thereby helping to avoid recall of consignments. Research conducted on European strains of L.monocytogenes prevalent in human and animal illnesses revealed surprisingly high genomic stability. Such findings serve to direct the focus of research efforts to a relatively small number of specific genomic regions, to elucidate their possible involvement in virulence and adaptive physiology attributes of epidemic-associated bacteria. A central component will be the sequencing of genomes of representative clonally dominant Listeria strains from India, to identify pathogenic traits associated with disease in livestock and humans.
The objective of the network is also to provide comparative data to monitor trends of international importance, to rapidly detect and more efficiently investigate outbreaks, through real time sharing of information and the development of harmonized methods. The network also emphasizes to encourage individual institutes to strengthen national surveillance of Listeria infection and to contribute to their strengthening by providing a model and specific tools for surveillance and investigation.
The centre would generate data on virulence factors, ecological attributes and molecular epidemiology of L. monocytogenes in India. Screening wild type strains of L.monocytogenes from various sources will provide information regarding mechanism of adaptive physiology and potential strains having good immunomodulation. The cytokine production pattern and quantity of cytokine production will help us to understand host-parasite interaction during listeriosis. The project work is expected to come out with a repository of L. monocytogenes that will be of value in development of diagnostic applications control strategies and future research. The prime significance of the project is to develop centres for diagnosis and research on L. monocytogenes.
The proposal will give an impetus to organize a number of well designed training courses for veterinarians, medicos and personnel from food industries. Training courses of two to three weeks duration each shall be arranged for students and faculty both veterinary, medical streams and food industry during the course of the project. The training courses shall cover the following topics:
· Isolation and identification techniques for Listeria monocytogenes
· Comparative genomics of Listeria monocytogenes
· Molecular epidemiological techniques for detection and typing of food borne pathogens
· Molecular subtyping methods for foodborne pathogens
For any details please contact:
Dr. N.P. Singh Dr. S. B. Barbuddhe
Director Senior Scientist and Project Coordinator
ICAR - CCARI ICAR - CCARI
Old Goa 403402 Old Goa 403402
Tel: 0832 2284677 Tel: 0832 2284678
Fax: 0832 2285649 Fax: 0832 2285649
E.mail: director@icargao.res.in E.mail: sbb@icargoa.res.in ,