Development of a triplex real-time PCR assay for the simultaneous detection of Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium sporogenes and Clostridium tyrobutyricum in milk

• Clostridium are responsible for late blowing in semi-hard and hard ripened cheeses.
• Our qPCR detect simultaneously C. beijerinckii, C. sporogenes and C. tyrobutyricum.
• The qPCR assay is sensitive and specific to quantify low levels of clostridial spores in milk.
• The qPCR method could be a tool for direct Clostridium quantification in raw milk.

Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium sporogenes and Clostridium tyrobutyricum are considered the leading bacteria implicated in late blowing defects affecting semi-hard and hard cheese production. The aim of this study was to develop a multiplex Real-Time PCR (qPCR) analysis for a rapid and simultaneous detection of C. beijerinckii, C. sporogenes and C. tyrobutyricum, using specific primers respectively targeting the nifH, gerAA and enr genes. The limits of detection in raw milk were 300 CFU/50 mL in the case of C. beijerinckii, 2 CFU/50 mL for C. sporogenes and 5 CFU/50 mL for C. tyrobutyricum spores. The qPCR method was applied to artificially contaminated raw milk samples, and molecular quantification showed good correlation (R2 = 0.978) with microbiological counting. Our results demonstrate that this method, combined with a DNA extraction protocol optimized for spore lysis, could be a useful tool for the direct quantification of the considered clostridia species.