| Summary: | Abstract Background Enterococcus hirae is considered a part of the normal intestinal biota of several domestic animals, including poultry. However, this species is also associated with infective endocarditis in chickens, a disease that leads to unexpected deaths and serious economical losses. Enterococcus hirae is identified predominantly with the use of conventional bacteriological methods, biochemical tests and PCR. Rapid, sensitive and specific methods for detecting E. hirae in clinical samples are required in poultry production. The aim of this study was to use the Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) for the identification and quantification of E. hirae in heart samples from broiler chickens. Results The specificity of the LAMP method was confirmed for 7 enterococcal strains and 3 non-enterococcal strains. E. hirae was detected in all of the 22 analyzed clinical bacterial isolates and in all of the 9 heart samples. Three sets of primers supported the detection of E. hirae with high sensitivity and specificity within one hour. The highest detection rate of a LAMP product was approximately 7 min for an E. hirae strain and 12 min for a positive heart sample. The detection limit for the E. hirae ATCC 10541 standard was 1.3 × 102 CFU (43.4 fg) or 13.8 copies of the E. hirae genome equivalent per reaction. The reaction was 10-fold more sensitive than conventional species-specific PCR. The LAMP assay supported the determination of the E. hirae load in chicken hearts with endocarditis in field cases. The average number of E. hirae cells in hearts was 5.19 × 107 CFU/g of tissue, and the average number of E. hirae genome equivalents in hearts was 5.51× 106 copies/g of tissue. Bacterial counts were significantly higher in the LAMP assay than in the standard plate count. Conclusions The LAMP assay is a useful diagnostic tool and an effective alternative to conventional methods for the detection of this enterococcal species. The sodA-based LAMP assay supported direct identification of E. hirae from pure cultures and heart samples without previous bacterial cultivation. This is the first study to apply the LAMP method for the purpose of diagnosing E. hirae-associated endocarditis in poultry.
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