International Journal of Food Microbiology
International Journal of Food Microbiology
5 years ago

Sequential transition of the injury phenotype, temperature-dependent survival and transcriptional response in Listeria monocytogenes following lethal H2O2 exposure

The food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is present persistently in food processing environments, where this bacterium is exposed to various stress factors, including oxidative stress. This study aimed to elucidate the temperature-dependent response of L. monocytogenes to H2O2 exposure and the phenotypic changes in colony formation by H2O2-treated bacteria. Survival curves indicated an increase in the resistance to H2O2 in L. monocytogenes as the temperature decreased during the stress exposure procedure. Transcriptional induction of genes with key roles in response to H2O2, including sigB and kat, was observed at 37°C, but not at 20°C, whereas other stress response genes were induced at both temperatures. Following H2O2 exposure, L. monocytogenes produced small colony phenotypes and the colony size decreased in a stress exposure duration-dependent manner. Resuscitated cells with no ability to form colonies in the absence of sodium pyruvate were also found. Our findings show the possibility that a sequential transition in the injury phenotype from small colony phenotype to resuscitated cells occurred during the course of exposure to H2O2. The higher H2O2 resistance at 20°C than 37°C suggests further investigation of the response to H2O2 exposure under the lower temperatures, including refrigeration temperature, which may contribute to elucidation of bacterial survival over extended time periods in food-processing environments.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0168160517303355

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.