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Virus Genome Quantification Does not Predict Norovirus Infectivity After Application of Food Inactivation Processing Technologies

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Abstract

When determining the effect of food processing on the infectivity of any contaminating virus, it is necessary to distinguish unambiguously between infectious and non-infectious viruses present. However, this can be difficult in the particular case of noroviruses (NoVs) because no reliable cell culture model is available. The aim of this study was to assess the use of molecular methods—RT real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and enzymatic treatment (ET) coupled to RT-qPCR—to quantify the infectivity of NoV after application of various inactivating food-processing technologies. RT-qPCR and ET-RT-qPCR gave significantly different (P < 0.01) results concerning the reduction in viral genome counts by all inactivation procedures and conditions used, except for HHP treatment at 600 MPa for 5 min. These findings indicate that the ET prior to RT-qPCR has an effect on the estimation of the reduction of virus genome counts, and may eliminate genomes of affected virus particles. However, no correlation was found between the results obtained by ET-RT-qPCR and those obtained by cell culture. Therefore, the effect is presumably only partial, and not adequate to allow accurate estimation of virus inactivation. Consequently, our results indicate that the quantification of virus genomes by PCR, regardless of prior ET, is not adequate for establishing virus inactivation and/or infectivity. In addition, our results also illustrate that the general effect of virus inactivation is not directly correlated to effects on the integrity of virus genome and protein capsid. Presumably, inactivation by food processing is the consequence of effects on proteins involved in adhesion and invasion stages.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Herbert W. Virgin IV (Washington University School of Medicine, USA) for providing the murine norovirus 1 strain. This study was supported by a national grant INIA RTA 11-79 from the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. M.D.-V. received a Ph.D. studentship from the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) (Spain). Katarina Kovač was supported by a FEMS Research Fellowship 2009-2, a short-term scientific mission from COST Action Number 929 (COST-STSM-929-05122) and a PhD student fellowship from the University of Leon (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Junta de Castilla y León, Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL), Ctra. Burgos, km, 119, 47071, Valladolid, Spain

    Marta Diez-Valcarce, Katarina Kovač, David Rodríguez-Lázaro & Marta Hernández

  2. Biotechnology, Microbiology and Food Safety, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Katarina Kovač & Peter Raspor

  3. Molecular Biology and Microbiology Laboratory, Junta de Castilla y León, Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL), Ctra. Burgos, km, 119, 47071, Valladolid, Spain

    Marta Hernández

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  1. Marta Diez-Valcarce
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  2. Katarina Kovač
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  3. Peter Raspor
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  4. David Rodríguez-Lázaro
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  5. Marta Hernández
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to David Rodríguez-Lázaro or Marta Hernández.

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Marta Diez-Valcarce and Katarina Kovač have contributed equally to this work.

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Diez-Valcarce, M., Kovač, K., Raspor, P. et al. Virus Genome Quantification Does not Predict Norovirus Infectivity After Application of Food Inactivation Processing Technologies. Food Environ Virol 3, 141–146 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-011-9070-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-011-9070-9

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