Capability of FDA-EVIR Microarray for Detection of Norovirus and Hepatitis A Virus in Inoculated Tomatoes, Green Onions, and Celery

The capability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Enteric Viruses tiling microarray (FDA-EVIR) was assessed for rapid molecular identification of human norovirus (NoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) extracted from artificially inoculated fresh produce. Two published viral extraction strategies, total RNA extraction or virus particle isolation, were employed to prepare the viral targets. We also assessed the amount of viral RNA extracted from celery by three commercially-available kits and how well that RNA performed on the FDA-EVIR. Our results confirm that FDA-EVIR can correctly identify common enteric viruses isolated from fresh produce and is capable of identifying single and mixed species of viruses, as well as distinguishing among genotypes. Extending microarray methods to other food matrices should provide important support to surveillance and outbreak investigations. In total 17 samples; 11 Input files (different produces/viruses/extraction methods) with the corresponding 6 negative control samples