AUTHOR=Gill Alexander 

TITLE=The Importance of Bacterial Culture to Food Microbiology in the Age of Genomics

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2017

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00777

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.00777

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Culture-based and genomics methods provide different insights into the nature and behaviour of bacteria. Maximising the usefulness of both approaches requires recognising their limitations and employing them appropriately. Genomic analysis excels at identifying bacteria and establishing the relatedness of isolates. Culture-based methods remain necessary for detection and enumeration, to determine viability and to validate phenotype predictions made on the bias of genomic analysis.

The purpose of this short paper is to discuss the application of culture-based analysis and genomics to the questions food microbiologists routinely need to ask regarding bacteria to ensure the safety of food and its economic production and distribution. To address these issues appropriate tools are required for the detection and enumeration of specific bacterial populations and the characterisation of isolates for, identification, phylogenetics and phenotype prediction.