Molecular Detection of Bacillus cereus in Milk by Polymerase Chain Reaction

Abstract

It is a valuable and good food source with the ingredients it contains in milk, but if hygienic conditions are not ensured during milking, storage and processing, diseases related to milk and dairy products are likely to occur. More than 90% of these diseases are of bacterial origin. B. cereus, found in the Bacillaceae family, is a significant source of contamination in milk and dairy products due to the presence of psychrotrophic strains. In recent years, it has been reported that milk and milk products contaminated with B. cereus have adverse effects on human health, and toxic substances are formed during the storage of contaminated milk and milk products. This study, it is aimed to molecularly identify the B. cereus bacteria species that cause adverse effects such as food poisoning and loss of quality in milk. In this study, the DNA of Bacillus cereus, one of the microorganisms found in raw milk, was isolated and toxic gene regions were determined at the molecular level by PCR method using specific primers to the gene regions Bacillus cereus. Six primers specific for nheA, nheB, nheC, hblA, hblC, hblD and 16S rRNA gene regions were used for molecular detection of B. cereus in milk samples. At the end of the study, Bacillus cereus bacteria were detected in 8 of the 13 milk samples. It has been revealed that B. cereus can be detected quickly and reliably in milk and dairy products by molecular species identification using specific primers.

Keywords

• Bacillus cereus
• non-hemolytic enterotoxin (Nhe)
• milk
• molecular species detection
• PCR

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