Chemicals and lemon essential oil effect on Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris viability

Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris is considered to be one of the important target microorganisms in the quality control of acidic canned foods. There is an urgent need to develop a suitable method for inhibiting or controlling the germination and outgrowth of A.acidoterrestris in acidic drinks. The aim of this work was to evaluate the chemicals used in the lemon industry (sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate), and lemon essential oil as a natural compound, against a strain of A.acidoterrestris in MEB medium and in lemon juice concentrate. The results pointed out that sodium benzoate (500-1000-2000 ppm) and lemon essential oil (0.08- 0.12- 0.16%) completely inhibited the germination of A. acidoterrestris spores in MEB medium and LJC for 11 days. Potassium sorbate (600-1200 ppm) was more effective to inhibit the growth of the microbial target in lemon juice than in MEB medium. The effect of sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and essential oil was sporostatic in MEB and LJC as they did not affect spore viability.

Survival strategies of Bacillus spores in food.

Control of bacterial spores is one of the major problem in the food preservation. Spores of Bacillus genus are commonly present in different environments, including soil and the gut of insects and animals and, as a result, they can be spread to all kind of foods. Due to their high resistance properties, their complete inactivation in food is often impossible without changing the product characteristics. Surviving spores can germinate and grow out to vegetative cells, with the consequent great risk of food spoilage and food poisoning after consumption. Spores have evolved various mechanisms, including phenotypic variability, to protect themselves from a wide range of damage resulting from food preservation treatments. Even if the phenotypic heterogeneity contributes to increase the chances of survival of Bacillus spore to conventional preservation treatments, in some specific instances, an homogeneous response could be the result of a strategy adopted by the spores to increase resistance to those treatments.

In vitro susceptibility testing of nonsporing anaerobes to ten antimicrobial agents.

Antibiotic susceptibility was performed on sixty clinical isolates of nonsporing anaerobes against ten antimicrobial agents. The test was performed on Muller Hinton Agar and Wilkins Chalgren blood agar by preparing suspension of freshly isolated colonies in BHI broth. Apart from Metronidazole and Chloramphenicol newer antibiotics like Minocycline, Secnidazole, Tinidazole, Clarithromycin, Roxithromycin were also tried. Antimicrobial agents like Metronidazole, Secnidazole, Tinidazole and Minocycline were 100% sensitive, followed by Chloramphenicol, Clarithromycin and Roxithromycin. These newer agents can be good alternatives for the treatment of non sporing anaerobes.

In vitro susceptibility testing of nonsporing anaerobes to ten antimicrobial agents.

Antibiotic Susceptibility was performed on sixty clinical isolates of nonsporing anaerobes against ten antimicrobial agents. The test was performed on Muller Hinton Agar and Wilkins Chalgren blood agar by preparing suspension of freshly isolated colonies in BHI broth. Apart from Metronidazole and Chloramphenicol newer antibiotics like Minocycline, Secnidazole, Tinidazole, Clarithromycin, Roxithromycin were also tried. Antimicrobial agents like metronidazole, Secnidazole, Tinidazole and Minocycline were 100% sensitive, followed by Chloramphenicol, Clarithromycin and Roxithromycin. These newer agents can be good alternatives for the treatment of non sporing anaerobes.

Influence of cellular differentiation on ultraviolet induced DNA damage and its repair mechanisms in B. cereus.

Susceptibility to UV irradiation of B. cereus BIS-59 spores undergoing germination at various stages-dormant spores to vegetative cell stage and their ability to recover from radiation damage were studied. For a given dose of radiation, the number of spore photoproducts (SPP) formed in the DNA of dormant spores was about 5-times greater than that of thymine dimers (TT) formed in the DNA of vegetative cells. At intermediate stages of the germination cycle, there was a rapid decline in the UV radiation-induced SPP formed in DNA with a concomitant increase in the UV radiation-induced TT formed in DNA. Bacterial spores undergoing germination (up to 3 hr) in the low nutrient medium (0.3% yeast extract) displayed much higher resistance to UV radiation than those germinating in the rich nutrient medium, even though there was no discernible difference under the two incubation conditions in respect of the extent of germination and the time at which the outgrowth stage appeared (3 hr). This was due to the formation TT in the DNA of spores germinating in the low nutrient as compared to that of spores germinating in the rich-nutrient medium. In UV-irradiated dormant spores, SPP formed in the spore DNA did not disappear even after prolonged incubation in the non-germinating medium. However, when the UV-irradiated dormant spores were germinated in low or rich nutrient medium, a significant proportion of SPP in DNA was eliminated. The dormant spores incubated in either of the germinating media for 15 min and then UV-irradiated were capable of eliminating SPP (presumably by monomerization) even by incubation in a non-germinating medium and in the complete absence of protein synthesis (buffer holding recovery), thereby implying that spore-repair enzymes were activated in response to initial's germination. The acquisition of photo-reactivation ability appeared in spores subjected to germination only in the rich-nutrient medium at the outgrowth stage and required de novo synthesis of the required enzymes.