phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:3706 DOI 10.3390/foods13182883 Molecular Characterization of Listeria monocytogenes in the Food Chain of the Republic of Kosovo from 2016 to 2022 The present study describes the genetic characterization of L. monocytogenes strains found in the Republic of Kosovo's food chain. From 2016 to 2022, 995 samples were collected. Overall, 648 samples were from ready-to-eat (RTE) food products, 281 from food products consumed cooked (FPCC), 60 from raw materials, and 6 from environmental samples. Overall, 11.76% (117 out of 995) of the samples were contaminated by L. monocytogenes, comprising 6.33% (41 out of 648) from RTE products, 14.95% (42 out of 281) from FPCC, 55.00% (33 out of 60) from raw materials, and 16.66% (1 out of 6) from environmental samples. All isolates were subjected to molecular serotyping and clonal complex (CC) identification by using real-time PCR, as well as multilocus sequence typing. All isolates were grouped into four molecular serotypes, IIa (34.19%), IIb (3.48%), IIc (32.48%), and IVb (29.91%), as well as Lineage I (33.33%) and Lineage II (66.66%). In total, 14 CCs were identified from 41 RTE isolates; however, CC29 (7), CC2 (6), and CC6 (6) were the most dominant. By contrast, CC9 was by far the most represented CC in both FPCC (21) and RM (14). Moreover, 30 isolates expressed CC1, CC2, CC4, or CC6, which are particularly associated with severe human infections. eng Eat Meat-Products Prevalence Virulence Serotype Ecology Growth 2024-11-25T09:49:07.664Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Jashari;Besart; FN:Besart Jashari X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2511-8955 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Capitaine;Karine; FN:Karine Capitaine X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3431-8522 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Bisha;Bledar; FN:Bledar Bisha X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3145-8025 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Stessl;Beatrix; FN:Beatrix Stessl X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6172-0587 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Blagoevska;Katerina; FN:Katerina Blagoevska X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0535-6025 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Cana;Armend; FN:Armend Cana X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6034-4903 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Jankuloski;Dean; FN:Dean Jankuloski X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7448-6021 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Félix;Benjamin; FN:Benjamin Félix X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8658-8874 END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 855009 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3706 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:3706/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline