foods Article Molecular Characterization of Cronobacter sakazakii Strains Isolated from Powdered Milk Ondrej Holý 1,*, Julio Parra-Flores 2,* , Sarah Lepuschitz 3, María Paula Alarcón-Lavín 2, Ariadnna Cruz-Córdova 4, Juan Xicohtencatl-Cortes 4, Jetsi Mancilla-Rojano 4,5, Werner Ruppitsch 3 and Stephen Forsythe 6 1 Department of Public Health, Palacký University Olomouc, 77515 Olomouc, Czech Republic 2 Department of Nutrition and Public Health, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillán 3800708, Chile;
[email protected] 3 Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, 1220 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] (S.L.);
[email protected] (W.R.) 4 Intestinal Bacteriology Research Laboratory, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City 06720, Mexico;
[email protected] (A.C.-C.);
[email protected] (J.X.-C.);
[email protected] (J.M.-R.) 5 Biological Sciences Graduate Program, Facultad de Medicina, Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico 6 Adams Hill, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire NG12 5GY, UK;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (O.H.);
[email protected] (J.P.-F.) Abstract: Cronobacter spp. are opportunistic pathogens of the Enterobacteriaceae family. The organism causes infections in all age groups, but the most serious cases occur in outbreaks related to neonates with meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis. The objective was to determine the in silico and in vitro putative virulence factors of six Cronobacter sakazakii strains isolated from powdered milk (PM) in the Czech Republic. Strains were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Virulence and resistance genes were detected with the Ridom SeqSphere+ software task template and the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD) platform.