Table 5.

Enteric human pathogenic bacteria in the phyllosphere of leafy greens detected by culture-independent approaches

Aims of investigations	Objects	Methods	Results	Reference
Persistence and spread of Salmonella enterica sv. Weltevreden	Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) grown in a climate chamber	qRCR of the Salmonella invA gene	S. Weltevreden was capable of persisting in soil, root and shoot for prolonged periods.	Arthurson et al. (2011)
Survival and distribution of E. coli on leafy greens under preharvest through postharvest conditions	Asian baby leaf vegetables: Tatsoi (Brassica rapa cv. rosularis), Mizuna (B. rapa cv. japonica), Red Chard (Beta vulg. cv. cicla)	qPCR of the E. coli O157:H7 rfbE gene	E. coli rapidly declined after inoculation, but low populations survived production and postharvest operations.	Tomás-Callejas et al. (2011)
Persistence of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium following spray irrigation with contaminated water	Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) grown in a greenhouse	qPCR of Salmonella sirA gene	S. Typhimurium persisted for 48 h on the leaves, if the irrigation water contained about 300 cells mL−1. It was detectable atleast for 4 weeks, if the water was contaminated by 8.5 log cells mL−1, but the population steadily declined.	Kisluk & Yaron (2012)
Effects of packaging and storage temperature on bac terial community and the fate of E. coli O157:H7	Freshly harvested and storaged spinach (Spinacia oleracea)	DGGE and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, qPCR of the E. coli virulence (stxA, csgE, eaeA) and stress response (rpoS, sodB) genes	Storage time and temperature affected the bacterial diversity and also virulence and stress response of E. coli O157:H7.	Lopez-Velasco et al. (2010)
Changes in bacterial diversity on leaves during storage at refrigeration temperatures	Freshly harvested and storaged spinach (Spinacia oleracea)	Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons	Refrigerated conditions decreased the species richness, diversity and evenness. Growth inhibition of Escherichia spp.was achieved at 4 °C, but not at 10 °C storage.	Lopez-Velasco et al. (2011)
Effect of overhead irrigation with ground or surface water on the bacterial diversity	Fruit surface of field grown tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)	Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons	Although, the two water sources had a significantly different bacterial composition, bacterial populations on the surface of fruits sprayed could not be dif ferentiated. Pantoea and Enterobacter were the most abundant genera on fruits.	Telias et al. (2011)