ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Prevalence of Listeria Pathogenicity Islands in Listeria innocua Isolates from Meat, Meat Products, and Meat-Processing Environments in Poland
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Department of Food Biotechnology and Microbiology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 48, 60-627 Poznan, Poland
Submission date: 2026-05-19
Acceptance date: 2026-07-21
Corresponding author
Anna Zawiasa
Department of Biotechnology and Food Microbiology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland
KEYWORDS
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ABSTRACT
Among the members of the genus Listeria, Listeria innocua is the species most commonly isolated from food products and food-processing environments. Although it is generally regarded as non-pathogenic, several reports have described cases of listeriosis caused by atypical L. innocua strains harboring virulence-associated genes. In this study, the presence of 28 virulence-associated genes was investigated by PCR in the genomes of 51 L. innocua isolates obtained from meat products and meat-processing environments in Poland. The hemolytic phenotype of the isolates was assessed as well. Among the Listeria pathogenicity island 1 (LIPI-1)-associated genes, prfA was detected in 10% of the isolates, while plcA and hly were each identified in 6% of the analyzed strains. The actA1 gene was present in 4% of the isolates. Internalin genes were largely absent, as inlA and inlB were not detected, while inlC and inlJ were each identified in only 2% of the isolates. Among other genes, sigB was present in all isolates (100%), whereas iap and flaA were detected in 7 and 6 isolates, respectively. In contrast, genes associated with Listeria pathogenicity island 3 (LIPI-3) were considerably more prevalent. Genes located in the 5′ region of the island (llsA, llsG, llsH, and llsX) were detected in approximately 69–73% of the isolates and frequently co-occurred, whereas genes from the 3′ region were much less common (5–13%). A complete LIPI-3 island was identified in two isolates (4%), while partial LIPI-3 profiles were detected in 40 isolates (78%). Among Listeria pathogenicity island 4 (LIPI-4) genes, licC and glvA were detected in 100% and 94% of the isolates, respectively. In the hemolysis assay, no hemolytic activity was detected in any of the isolates. These findings underscore a heterogeneous distribution of pathogenicity island-associated genes in L. innocua.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We sincerely thank Iwona Kawacka (Department of Food Biotechnology and Microbiology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland) for establishing the collection of L. innocua isolates used in this study.
FUNDING
No external funding was received for this study. The author received a free publication invitation as an award for participation in a scientific conference, the XXIX Session of the Young Scientists Section of the Polish Society of Food Technologists (PTTŻ), “Food through the Eyes of the Young Generation”, held on 29-30 May 2025 in Kraków, Poland.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interests.
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