{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T13:59:54Z","timestamp":1790171994400,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790121600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790121600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Appl Environ Microbiol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      can persist in niches of meat processing environments despite routine cleaning and disinfection. Its persistence may depend not only on stress tolerance but also on interactions with resident microbial communities, which may promote or inhibit survival. However, these ecological relationships remain poorly understood. We combined 16S rRNA V3\/V4 amplicon sequencing, culture-based detection, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to characterize microbial communities in six German meat processing facilities over one year. We examined associations among community structure, sampling sites, and the occurrence of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp., including\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      . Microbial communities were dominated by core genera typical of food-processing environments, particularly\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Acinetobacter<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp., but differed significantly among facilities (PERMANOVA,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.001; pairwise\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">R<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00b2 = 0.023\u20130.079), indicating facility-specific communities. Culture-based analyses detected\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. in 51 of 370 environmental samples (13.8%), mainly from drains (44\/51, 86.3%).\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      was detected in five of six facilities, with 19 of 21 isolates originating from drains (90.5%). MLST of 74 typeable\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      isolates revealed high diversity, comprising 21 sequence types across 15 clonal complexes, with lineage II predominating (86.5%). Overall microbial community composition was significantly associated with\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      presence (PERMANOVA,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.001;\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">R<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00b2 = 0.0137 and 0.0083). In drains, amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) assigned to the genera\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Acinetobacter<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rhizorhapis<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Vagococcus<\/jats:italic>\n                      showed positive associations with\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp.-positive samples. Together, these findings suggest that drains are key ecological niches for\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. and that associated taxa may indicate drain communities linked to\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. recovery.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      is a major foodborne pathogen that can persist in meat processing environments despite routine cleaning and disinfection. Resident microbial communities may influence its survival, but longitudinal studies linking those communities with culture-based\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. detection remain limited. Here, we characterized microbial communities in six German meat processing facilities over 1 year using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and culture-based\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. detection, and MLST of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      isolates. We identified facility-specific microbial communities, identified floor drains as key niches for\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp., and observed repeated recovery of different\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">L. monocytogenes<\/jats:italic>\n                      sequence types across facilities. In drains, ASVs assigned to the genera\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Acinetobacter<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rhizorhapis<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Vagococcus<\/jats:italic>\n                      were positively associated with culture-positive samples, identifying candidate taxa that may reflect microbial conditions associated with\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. recovery. These findings highlight the importance of considering not only whether\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. are detected but also the resident microbial communities that may support their fitness.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/aem.01042-26","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T13:00:38Z","timestamp":1787922038000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Environmental microbial community signatures associated with\n                    <i>Listeria<\/i>\n                    spp. detection in German meat processing facilities"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"92","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7535-7872","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"J\u00e9r\u00f4me","family":"Braun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Competence Center for Food Safety, Chair of Food Safety and Analytics, LMU Munich","place":["Oberschlei\u00dfheim, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-8081-4099","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nicole","family":"Wildi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Competence Center for Food Safety, Chair of Food Safety and Analytics, LMU Munich","place":["Oberschlei\u00dfheim, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9465-4552","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jasna","family":"Kovac","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04p491231","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Food Science, The Pennsylvania State University","place":["University Park, USA"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04p491231","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"One Health Microbiome Center, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University","place":["University Park, USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9895-750X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Claudia","family":"Guldimann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Competence Center for Food Safety, Chair of Food Safety and Analytics, LMU Munich","place":["Oberschlei\u00dfheim, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2903\/j.efsa.2025.9759"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21505594.2021.1975526"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/AEM.01046-17"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/foods10061427"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bioflm.2024.100177"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fm.2024.104687"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cofs.2020.10.015"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.02045-22"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.04634"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s40168-023-01544-8"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s40168-024-01856-3"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1541-4337.70277"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2021.632935"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gks808"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_2","unstructured":"R Core Team. 2025. 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