Quasi-metagenomics study on the recovery of Shigella from field tomatoes

Field tomatoes were collected on September 14 and 15, 2014 from farms located at Virginia Tech Eastern Shore AREC in Painter, VA (latitude 37.58, longitude −75.78). They were harvested in the late morning when temperatures were between 23-27°C and placed into sterile boxes and stored for at 4°C for 60-72 hours. Tomatoes were washed with a solution of 10% glycerol and sterile water for 10-15 minutes.S. flexneri serotype 1a was obtained from Gail Grady at the Center for Disease Control and has an internal isolate designation of 1921-71S. sonnei isolate used is a spontaneous virulence plasmid-less isolated from lettuce.