Abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is a common foodborne pathogen that can be classified into many subtypes. Different subtypes of L. monocytogenes have different pathogenic potentials, depending on their resistance and virulence genes. This review article summarizes the relationship between different subtypes of L. monocytogenes and its potential pathogenic genes. It is found that L. monocytogenes has many heat, cold resistance, acid, hypertonic stress, desiccation, metal and disinfectant resistance genes and genes involved in the regulation of stress protein expression. To date, there has been no clear conclusion on the relationship between these genes and subtyping, although stress survival island 1 has been found to exist only in some strains of lineage I and II. Stress survival island 2 has been found only in ST121 strains. The virulence genes of L. monocytogenes are reviewed from the aspects of functional virulence genes and Listeria pathogenicity islands (LIPI). LIPI-3 and LIPI-4 are mainly found in lineage I strains. Premature stop codons appear in advance in the inlA gene of the ST5, ST8, ST9 and ST121 strains, reducing the virulence of the strains. Therefore, exploring the differences in the potential pathogenic genes in different subtypes of L. monocytogenes will help prevent and control Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Key words: Listeria monocytogenes; subtyping; resistance genes; virulence genes