A Review of the Development in the Multiplex PCR Technique for the Detection of Bacillus cereus

Israa Abed Ali Al Hawani

Prosthetics and Orthotics Techniques Department, Al-Mussaib Technical College, Al Furat Al-Awsat Technical University, Babylon, Iraq.  

Abstract

Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium that causes severe food poisoning. Bacillus forms spores that enable it to resist the environmental stresses, such as drought, heat, and pH changes. Spores can remain dormant for many years and return to the vegetative cells when suitable conditions for bacterial growth are available. Several food poisoning outbreaks in cereal products showed that B. cereus was the main causative agent. Recently, the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (m-PCR) has provided a rapid and highly sensitive method for the detection of specific pathogenic microorganisms in the aquatic environment. Most m-PCR assays for pathogen detection have focused on only one, two or three different types of organisms. The lack of knowledge regarding the development of a multiplex PCR assay for the specific detection of Bacillus cereus inspires us to shed light on the development of this method for Bacillus cereus detection and the potential application of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for the simultaneous detection of other multi-pathogen systems.     

Keywords: Bacillus cereus, Multiplex PCR, Food poisoning, Response surface methodology

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