, with some modification [8]. Briefly, PHELP DNA was amplified with the primer pair PhelpFsoe(LI)/PhelpRsoe from the plasmid pPL2luxPHelp [16] and fused between two DNA fragments amplified from the regions flanking P llsA by splicing by overlap extension (SOE) PCR [17]. The upstream region was amplified with the primer pair PllsAchgA(LI) and PllsAchgB(LI) and the downstream region was amplified with primers PllsAchgC and PllsAchgD. All PCRs were performed using Vent DNA polymerase (NEB, New England AZD2281 manufacturer Biolabs, MA, USA). The SOE PCR product was cloned into the multiple cloning site (MCS) of check details pORI280 following

PstI and EcoRI (NEB) digestion and ligation with the Ligafast rapid DNA ligation system (Promega, Madison, USA). The sequence of the cloned product was verified with MCS primers pORI280For/Rev by MWG Biotech, Germany [18]. Pellet-paint (Novagen) precipitated plasmid was subsequently transformed into the intermediate repA-positive host E. coli EC101. The plasmid was co-transformed into L. innocua FH2051 with the highly temperature-sensitive plasmid pVE6007 which supplies RepA in trans. Transformed cells appeared as blue colonies following plating on BHI-Ery-Xgal AZD8931 mouse at 30°C. The integration of pORI280 by single crossover homologous recombination was stimulated by picking a single blue colony from the transformation plate and incubating it on BHI-Ery-Xgal at 30°C for 24 h and subcultured

twice on BHI-Ery-Xgal at 42°C. A second crossover event, resulting in the introduction of PHELP Docetaxel nmr in place of PllsA and the eventual loss of the pORI280 vector, was screened for following multiple subcultures in the absence of antibiotic selection. The introduction of PHELP upstream of llsA in Ery resistant Cm sensitive colonies was confirmed by PCR. A haemolytic phenotype

was determined by spotting 10 μL of an overnight culture of this strain onto Columbia blood agar (Oxoid) containing 5% defibrinated horse blood (TCS Biosciences, Buckingham, UK) and 1 mU/ml sphingomyelinase (Sigma) and examining after 24 h. Pulsed- field gel electrophoresis Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was carried out following the CDC standardized PulseNet protocol for L. monocytogenes with AscI and ApaI as the restriction endonucleases. The PFGE patterns were analyzed using BioNumerics software [19]. Results and discussion Screening L. monocytogenes and L. innocua for homologues of llsA To date LIPI-3 has been identified in ~60% (27 of 46) of lineage I L. monocytogenes but was absent from all lineage II (n = 23) and lineage III (n = 5) isolates tested [8]. As a consequence of gaining access to the Seeliger collection of Listeria isolates [20], we were provided with the opportunity to screen for the presence of LIPI-3 among an additional 83 L. monocytogenes isolates including 30 lineage I, 50 lineage II and 3 lineage III strains. The llsA gene was not identified in any lineage II or lineage III strain, consistent with our previous observations (Table  1).