Abstract

Infections due to Salmonella serovars are a great risk to public health. It is known that genes involved in pathogenesis of Salmonella serovars are clustered within Salmonellapathogenicity Islands. We have characterized four genes (invA, ssaP, sseC, and pipB) coded by 3 pathogenicity Islands among 54 Salmonella typhimurium isolated from poultry samples in Iran. A set of tetraplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed. Results show that invA, ssaP, sseC, and pipB genes were 100% prevalent in this study. This assay is a reproducible and sensitive assay for the detection of Salmonella by screening several virulent genes present in SPIs. Because of rapidity, high specificity and sensitivity of M-PCR method, by standardization of this method, it could be considered as an alternative to conventional culture and serotyping methods to confirm the presence ofSalmonella in human and poultry samples. This is the first study on the distribution ofssaP, sseC and pipB genes in isolates from human and poultry sources in Iran.

Key words: Salmonella typhimurium, multiplex PCR, invA, ssaP, sseC, pipB, gene.