scholarly journals Characteristics of Spoilage-Associated Secondary Cucumber Fermentation

2011 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 1273-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Franco ◽  
Ilenys M. Pérez-Díaz ◽  
Suzanne D. Johanningsmeier ◽  
Roger F. McFeeters

ABSTRACTSecondary fermentations during the bulk storage of fermented cucumbers can result in spoilage that causes a total loss of the fermented product, at an estimated cost of $6,000 to $15,000 per affected tank. Previous research has suggested that such fermentations are the result of microbiological utilization of lactic acid and the formation of acetic, butyric, and propionic acids. The objectives of this study were to characterize the chemical and environmental conditions associated with secondary cucumber fermentations and to isolate and characterize potential causative microorganisms. Both commercial spoilage samples and laboratory-reproduced secondary fermentations were evaluated. Potential causative agents were isolated based on morphological characteristics. Two yeasts,Pichia manshuricaandIssatchenkia occidentalis, were identified and detected most commonly concomitantly with lactic acid utilization. In the presence of oxygen, yeast metabolic activities lead to lactic acid degradation, a small decline in the redox potential (Eh, Ag/AgCl, 3 M KCl) of the fermentation brines, and an increase in pH to levels at which bacteria other than the lactic acid bacteria responsible for the primary fermentation can grow and produce acetic, butyric, and propionic acids. Inhibition of these yeasts by allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) resulted in stabilization of the fermented medium, while the absence of the preservative resulted in the disappearance of lactic and acetic acids in a model system. Additionally, three Gram-positive bacteria,Lactobacillus buchneri, aClostridiumsp., andPediococcus ethanolidurans, were identified as potentially relevant to different stages of the secondary fermentation. The unique opportunity to study commercial spoilage samples generated a better understanding of the microbiota and environmental conditions associated with secondary cucumber fermentations.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (30) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanath Belguesmia ◽  
Valérie Leclère ◽  
Matthieu Duban ◽  
Eric Auclair ◽  
Djamel Drider

ABSTRACT We report the draft genome sequence of Enterococcus faecalis DD14, a strain isolated from meconium of a healthy newborn at Roubaix Hospital (France). The strain displayed antagonism against a set of Gram-positive bacteria through concomitant production of lactic acid and bacteriocin. The genome has a size of 2,893,365 bp and a 37.3% G+C ratio and is predicted to contain at least 2,755 coding sequences and 62 RNAs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingqun Cheng ◽  
Sylvio Redanz ◽  
Nyssa Cullin ◽  
Xuedong Zhou ◽  
Xin Xu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCommensalStreptococcus sanguinisandStreptococcus gordoniiare pioneer oral biofilm colonizers. Characteristic for both is the SpxB-dependent production of H2O2, which is crucial for inhibiting competing biofilm members, especially the cariogenic speciesStreptococcus mutans. H2O2production is strongly affected by environmental conditions, but few mechanisms are known. Dental plaque pH is one of the key parameters dictating dental plaque ecology and ultimately oral health status. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to characterize the effects of environmental pH on H2O2production byS. sanguinisandS. gordonii.S. sanguinisH2O2production was not found to be affected by moderate changes in environmental pH, whereasS. gordoniiH2O2production declined markedly in response to lower pH. Further investigation into the pyruvate node, the central metabolic switch modulating H2O2or lactic acid production, revealed increased lactic acid levels forS. gordoniiat pH 6. The bias for lactic acid production at pH 6 resulted in concomitant improvement in the survival ofS. gordoniiat low pH and seems to constitute part of the acid tolerance response ofS. gordonii. Differential responses to pH similarly affect other oral streptococcal species, suggesting that the observed results are part of a larger phenomenon linking environmental pH, central metabolism, and the capacity to produce antagonistic amounts of H2O2.IMPORTANCEOral biofilms are subject to frequent and dramatic changes in pH.S. sanguinisandS. gordoniican compete with caries- and periodontitis-associated pathogens by generating H2O2. Therefore, it is crucial to understand howS. sanguinisandS. gordoniiadapt to low pH and maintain their competitiveness under acid stress. The present study provides evidence that certain oral bacteria respond to environmental pH changes by tuning their metabolic output in favor of lactic acid production, to increase their acid survival, while others maintain their H2O2production at a constant level. The differential control of H2O2production provides important insights into the role of environmental conditions for growth competition of the oral flora.


2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 3526-3531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioanna-Areti Asteri ◽  
Effrossyni Boutou ◽  
Rania Anastasiou ◽  
Bruno Pot ◽  
Constantinos E. Vorgias ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTgsiB, coding for glucose starvation-inducible protein B, is a characteristic member of the σΒstress regulon ofBacillus subtilisand several other Gram-positive bacteria. Here we providein silicoevidence for the horizontal transfer ofgsiBin lactic acid bacteria that are devoid of the σΒfactor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Calasso ◽  
Fabio Minervini ◽  
Francesca De Filippis ◽  
Danilo Ercolini ◽  
Maria De Angelis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT This study aimed at establishing the effects of attenuated starters and surface bacteria on various features of caciotta cheese. The cheese undergoes a ripening period during which the house microbiota contaminates the surface. Conventional cheese (the control cheese [CC]) is made using only primary starters. Primary starters and attenuated (i.e., unable to grow and synthesize lactic acid) Lactococcus lactis (Lc. lactis) subsp. lactis were used to produce caciotta cheese without (ATT cheese) or with an inoculum of surface bacteria: (i) Leuconostoc lactis (Le. lactis) (LL cheese), (ii) Vibrio casei (VC cheese), (iii) Staphylococcus equorum (SE cheese), (iv) Brochothrix thermosphacta (BX cheese), and (v) a mixture of all four (MIX cheese). Attenuated Lc. lactis increased microbial diversity during cheese ripening. At the core, attenuated starter mainly increased indigenous lactococci and Lactobacillus delbrueckii group bacteria. At the surface, the main effect was on Macrococcus caseolyticus. Autochthonous Le. lactis strains took advantage of the attenuated starter, becoming dominant. Adjunct Le. lactis positively affected Lactobacillus sakei group bacteria on the LL cheese surface. Adjunct V. casei, S. equorum, and B. thermosphacta did not become dominant. Surfaces of VC, SE, and BX cheeses mainly harbored Staphylococcus succinus. Peptidase activities were higher in cheeses made with attenuated starter than in CC, which had the lowest concentration of free amino acids. Based on the enzymatic activities of adjunct Le. lactis, LL and MIX cheeses exhibited the highest glutamate dehydrogenase, cystathionine-γ-lyase, and esterase activities. As shown by multivariate statistical analyses, LL and MIX cheeses showed the highest similarity for microbiological and biochemical features. LL and MIX cheeses received the highest scores for overall sensory acceptability. IMPORTANCE This study provides in-depth knowledge of the effects of attenuated starters and surface bacterial strains on the microbiota and related metabolic activities during cheese ripening. The use of attenuated Lc. lactis strongly impacted the microbiota assembly of caciotta cheese. This led to improved biochemical and sensory features compared to conventional cheese. Among surface bacterial strains, Le. lactis played a key role in the metabolic activities involved in cheese ripening. This resulted in an improvement of the sensory quality of caciotta cheese. The use of attenuated lactic acid bacteria and the surface adjunct Le. lactis could be a useful biotechnology to improve the flavor formation of caciotta cheese.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica García-Solache ◽  
Louis B. Rice

SUMMARYThe genusEnterococcuscomprises a ubiquitous group of Gram-positive bacteria that are of great relevance to human health for their role as major causative agents of health care-associated infections. The enterococci are resilient and versatile species able to survive under harsh conditions, making them well adapted to the health care environment. Two species cause the majority of enterococcal infections:Enterococcus faecalisandEnterococcus faecium. Both species demonstrate intrinsic resistance to common antibiotics, such as virtually all cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Additionally, a remarkably plastic genome allows these two species to readily acquire resistance to further antibiotics, such as high-level aminoglycoside resistance, high-level ampicillin resistance, and vancomycin resistance, either through mutation or by horizontal transfer of genetic elements conferring resistance determinants.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 432-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sotelo ◽  
M. Lema ◽  
P. Soengas ◽  
M. E. Cartea ◽  
P. Velasco

ABSTRACTGlucosinolates (GSLs) are secondary metabolites found inBrassicavegetables that confer on them resistance against pests and diseases. Both GSLs and glucosinolate hydrolysis products (GHPs) have shown positive effects in reducing soil pathogens. Information about theirin vitrobiocide effects is scarce, but previous studies have shown sinigrin GSLs and their associated allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) to be soil biocides. The objective of this work was to evaluate the biocide effects of 17 GSLs and GHPs and of leaf methanolic extracts of different GSL-enrichedBrassicacrops on suppressingin vitrogrowth of two bacterial (Xanthomonas campestrispv. campestris andPseudomonas syringaepv. maculicola) and two fungal (AlternariabrassicaeandSclerotiniascletoriorum)Brassicapathogens. GSLs, GHPs, and methanolic leaf extracts inhibited the development of the pathogens tested compared to the control, and the effect was dose dependent. Furthermore, the biocide effects of the different compounds studied were dependent on the species and race of the pathogen. These results indicate that GSLs and their GHPs, as well as extracts of differentBrassicaspecies, have potential to inhibit pathogen growth and offer new opportunities to study the use ofBrassicacrops in biofumigation for the control of multiple diseases.


LWT ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 111263
Author(s):  
Hajime Takahashi ◽  
Ayaka Nakamura ◽  
Nanami Fujino ◽  
Yuzuru Sawaguchi ◽  
Miki Sato ◽  
...  

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2149
Author(s):  
Chan-Woo Park ◽  
Song-Yi Han ◽  
Rajkumar Bandi ◽  
Ramakrishna Dadigala ◽  
Eun-Ah Lee ◽  
...  

In this study, the effect of lignin esterification with fatty acid chloride on the properties of lignin and lignin/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites was investigated. Lignocellulose (Pinus densiflora S. et Z.) was treated using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) with choline chloride (ChCl)/lactic acid (LA). From the DES-soluble fraction, DES-lignin (DL) was isolated by a regeneration process. Lignin esterification was conducted with palmitoyl chloride (PC). As the PC loading increased for DL esterification, the Mw of esterified DL (EDL) was increased, and the glass transition temperature (Tg) was decreased. In DL or EDL/PLA composite films, it was observed that EDL/PLA had cleaner and smoother morphological characteristics than DL/PLA. The addition of DL or EDL in a PLA matrix resulted in a deterioration of tensile properties as compared with neat PLA. The EDL/PLA composite film had a higher tensile strength and elastic modulus than the DL/PLA composite film. DL esterification decreased water absorption with lower water diffusion coefficients. The effect of lignin esterification on improving the compatibility of lignin and PLA was demonstrated. These results are expected to contribute to the development of high-strength lignin composites.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (18) ◽  
pp. 5670-5681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Adler ◽  
Christoph Josef Bolten ◽  
Katrin Dohnt ◽  
Carl Erik Hansen ◽  
Christoph Wittmann

ABSTRACTIn the present work, simulated cocoa fermentation was investigated at the level of metabolic pathway fluxes (fluxome) of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which are typically found in the microbial consortium known to convert nutrients from the cocoa pulp into organic acids. A comprehensive13C labeling approach allowed to quantify carbon fluxes during simulated cocoa fermentation by (i) parallel13C studies with [13C6]glucose, [1,2-13C2]glucose, and [13C6]fructose, respectively, (ii) gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis of secreted acetate and lactate, (iii) stoichiometric profiling, and (iv) isotopomer modeling for flux calculation. The study of several strains ofL. fermentumandL. plantarumrevealed major differences in their fluxes. TheL. fermentumstrains channeled only a small amount (4 to 6%) of fructose into central metabolism, i.e., the phosphoketolase pathway, whereas onlyL. fermentumNCC 575 used fructose to form mannitol. In contrast,L. plantarumstrains exhibited a high glycolytic flux. All strains differed in acetate flux, which originated from fractions of citrate (25 to 80%) and corresponding amounts of glucose and fructose. Subsequent, metafluxome studies with consortia of differentL. fermentumandL. plantarumstrains indicated a dominant (96%) contribution ofL. fermentumNCC 575 to the overall flux in the microbial community, a scenario that was not observed for the other strains. This highlights the idea that individual LAB strains vary in their metabolic contribution to the overall fermentation process and opens up new routes toward streamlined starter cultures.L. fermentumNCC 575 might be one candidate due to its superior performance in flux activity.


mBio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihong Li ◽  
Menglin Ma ◽  
Mahfuzur R. Sarker ◽  
Bruce A. McClane

ABSTRACT CodY is known to regulate various virulence properties in several Gram-positive bacteria but has not yet been studied in the important histotoxic and intestinal pathogen Clostridium perfringens. The present study prepared an isogenic codY-null mutant in C. perfringens type D strain CN3718 by insertional mutagenesis using the Targetron system. Western blot analysis indicated that, relative to wild-type CN3718 or a complementing strain, this isogenic codY mutant produces reduced levels of epsilon toxin (ETX). Using supernatants from cultures of the wild-type, codY-null mutant, and complementing strains, CodY regulation of ETX production was shown to have cytotoxic consequences for MDCK cells. The CodY regulatory effect on ETX production was specific, since the codY-null mutant still made wild-type levels of alpha-toxin and perfringolysin O. Sialidase activity measurements and sialidase Western blot analysis of supernatants from CN3718 and its isogenic derivatives showed that CodY represses overall exosialidase activity due to a reduced presence of NanH in culture supernatants. Inactivation of the codY gene significantly decreased the adherence of CN3718 vegetative cells or spores to host Caco-2 cells. Finally, the codY mutant showed increased spore formation under vegetative growth conditions, although germination of these spores was impaired. Overall, these results identify CodY as a global regulator of many C. perfringens virulence-associated properties. Furthermore, they establish that, via CodY, CN3718 coordinately regulates many virulence-associated properties likely needed for intestinal infection. IMPORTANCE Clostridium perfringens is a major human and livestock pathogen because it produces many potent toxins. C. perfringens type D strains cause intestinal infections by producing toxins, especially epsilon toxin (ETX). Previous studies identified CodY as a regulator of certain virulence properties in other Gram-positive bacteria. Our study now demonstrates that CodY is a global regulator of virulence-associated properties for type D strain CN3718. It promotes production of ETX, attachment of CN3718 vegetative cells or spores to host enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells, and spore germination; the last two effects may assist intestinal colonization. In contrast, CodY represses sporulation. These results provide the first evidence that CodY can function as a global regulator of C. perfringens virulence-associated properties and that this strain coordinately regulates its virulence-associated properties using CodY to increase ETX production, host cell attachment, and spore germination but to repress sporulation, as would be optimal during type D intestinal infection.


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