Development of a new integrated diagnostic test for identification and characterization of pathogens

Animal diseases directly cause multi-million dollar losses world-wide. Therefore a rapid, highly specific, cost-effective diagnostic test for detecting a large set of bacterial virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes simultaneously is necessary. Hence, our group, the BCBG (Bacterial Chips Bacterial Genes) group, proposes developing a powerful molecular tool (DNA microarray) to detect a broad range of infectious agents, their endogenous main virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes simultaneously. Effectively, a 70-mer oligonucleotide microarray capable of detecting the presence or absence of 169 Escherichia coli virulence genes or virulence marker genes as well as their variants, in addition to 30 principal antimicrobial resistance genes previously characterized in E. coli strains was developed by our group. This microarray was validated with a large collection of well characterized pathogenic and reference E. coli strains. Moreover, we are developing a new powerful clinical diagnostic microarray tool, to identify pathogenic bacteria of veterinary interest. The commercialization of this assay would allow same day diagnosis of infectious agents and their antibiotic resistance resulting in early treatment. In addition, this technology is also applicable to microbial quality control of food and water.