Selected Publications   Bono, J. L., J. E. Keen, L. C. Miller, J. M. Fox, C. G. Chitko-McKown, M. P. Heaton, and W. W. Laegreid.  2004.  Evaluation of a rapid, real-time PCR kit for detecting Escherichia coli O157 in bovine fecal samples.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70(3):1855-1857.   Elias, A. F., P. E. Stewart, D. Grimm, M. J. Caimano, C. H. Eggers, K. Tilly, J. L. Bono, D. R. Akins, J. D. Radolf, T. G. Schwan, and P. Rosa.  2002.  Clonal polymorphism of Borrelia burgdorferi strain B31 MI: implications for mutagenesis in an infectious strain background.  Infect. Immun. 70 (4):2139-2150.   Stewart, P. E., R. Thalken, J. L. Bono,  and P. Rosa.  2001.  Isolation of a circular plasmid region sufficient for autonomous replication and transformation of infectious Borrelia burgdorferi.  Mol. Microbiol. 39 (3):714-721.   Bono, J. L., A. F. Elias, J. J. Kupko, B. Stevenson, K. Tilly, and P. Rosa.  2000.  Efficient targeted mutagenesis in Borrelia burgdorferi.  J. Bacteriol. 182 (9):2445-2452.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other enterohemmoragic E. coli (EHEC) can cause diarrheal disease in humans.  The majority of EHEC outbreaks are from ingestion of undercooked hamburger, but contaminated water, produce, and animal contact are also common.  Cattle are a major reservoir for EHEC bacteria and are the main contributor to contamination of food products with these bacteria.  By understanding the ecology and epidemiology of EHEC bacteria in cattle, interventions can be imposed to reduce the prevalence of these bacteria, therefore, reducing the risk of contamination.

My research involves understanding the epidemiology and ecology of EHEC and identifying approaches to reduce the prevalence of EHEC in the pre-harvest food setting.  In order to understand the epidemiology and ecology of EHEC bacteria in the pre-harvest food setting, the development of improved and accurate diagnostic and typing methods are needed.  We are addressing these issues by genomic sample sequencing of several potential EHEC isolates and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of several E. coli O157:H7 genes.  Currently, we have identified two targets that can accurately detect E. coli O157:H7 and we are continuing to analyze the sequencing data for specific targets for other EHEC.