Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a ubiquitous bacterium that causes foodborne illness, listeriosis. This bacterium is the primary cause of mortality among foodborne diseases. The capacity of some strains to adapt to the environmental conditions found in the food industry makes production of high quality, safe food a major challenge. Lm can be found in outdoor environments, farm environments, vegetation, animals, water, sewage and food-processing environments. Lm is a paradigm for studying environmental adaptation of pathogenic bacteria. However, the ecology of Lm is still poorly understood. Many studies have highlighted the high genetic diversity within this species and demonstrated that some clonal complexes may be highly adapted to specific ecological niches: food, human, animals, and environment.

OBJECTIVES

The project “Listadapt” aims to elucidate which genes and molecular mechanisms underlie adaptation of Lm to its different ecological niches. We will use the combination of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology and phenotypical methodologies to compare data from a large and balanced set of strains from environment, animals, foods and clinical cases in several European countries. We expect to uncover key molecular factors that may contribute to ability of Lm to colonize particular environments. This multidisciplinary project will benefit from the :

• expertise of partners in food safety as well as animal and public health,
• high-level infrastructures
• 9000 strains already available within the consortium of which 2000 are whole sequenced.

New molecular tests for detecting Lm strains in food, animal and clinical sectors may arise from this project, with important impact for laboratories involved in the surveillance of Lm.

PARTNERS

• ANSES Maisons-Alfort (France) : Drs Sophie Roussel et Benjamin Félix
• ANSES Fougères (France) : Drs Christophe Soumet et Arnaud Bridier
• NRL (Rép. Tchèque) : Pr Renáta Karpíšková
• DTU (Danemark): Dr Rene Hendriksen
• INRAE Dijon (France) : Dr Pascal Piveteau
• IZSAM (Italie) : Drs Francesco Pomilio et Cesare Cammà
• VRI (Norvège) : Drs Taran Skjerdal et Live L. Nesse
• NFA (Suède) : Dr Susanne Thisted Lambertz

FINANCEMENT

Joint programme JRP7-FBZ2
Grant agreement n°773830- 2018-2020