Research Publications (Food Safety)

The effects of a 6-h chlorine dioxide sanitation of alfalfa seed (0, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg seed) on total coliform bacteria, seed germination, and the presence of chlorate and perchlorate residues in seed rinse, seed soak, and alfalfa sprouts was determined. Chlorate residues in 20,000 mg/L calcium hypochlorite, commonly used to disinfect seed, were quantified. Chlorine dioxide treatment reduced (P < 0.05) total coliforms on seeds with no effect (P > 0.05) on germination.

Salmonella is estimated to cause one million foodborne illnesses in the United States every year. Salmonella-contaminated poultry products are one of the major sources of salmonellosis. Given the critical role of the gut microbiota in Salmonella transmission, a manipulation of the chicken intestinal microenvironment could prevent animal colonization by the pathogen.

Water resources contaminated with wastewater are an important source for the dissemination of enteric viruses with an impact on the health of the population. The aim of the study was to assess the viral contamination of freshwater from a dam in Argentina by using infectious enterovirus detection, viral RNA amplification, and a genetic characterization of five enteric viruses associated with diarrhea and hepatitis.

Purple prairie clover (PPC; Dalea purpurea Vent.) containing 84.5 g/kg dry matter (DM) of condensed tannin (CT) was ensiled without (control) or with polyethylene glycol (PEG) for 76 days, followed by 14 days of aerobic exposure. Changes in fermentation characteristics were determined, and the composition of bacterial and fungal communities were assessed using metagenomic sequencing.

Cerecidins are small lantibiotics from Bacillus cereus that were obtained using a semi-in vitro biosynthesis strategy and showed prominent antimicrobial activities against certain Gram-positive bacteria. However, the parental strain B. cereus As 1.1846 is incapable of producing cerecidins, most probably due to the transcriptional repression of the cerecidin gene cluster.

The opportunistic plant-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus flavus produces carcinogenic mycotoxins termed aflatoxins (AF). Aflatoxin contamination of agriculturally important crops, such as maize, peanut, sorghum, and tree nuts, is responsible for serious adverse health and economic impacts worldwide. In order to identify possible genetic targets to reduce AF contamination, we have characterized the artA gene, encoding a putative 14-3-3 homolog in A. flavus.

Campylobacter jejuni is a microaerophilic bacterium and is believed to persist in a biofilm to antagonize environmental stress. This study investigated the influence of environmental conditions on the formation of C. jejuni biofilm. We report an extracellular DNA (eDNA)-mediated mechanism of biofilm formation in response to aerobic and starvation stress. The eDNA was determined to represent a major form of constitutional material of C.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is the only organism demonstrated to utilize fructose-asparagine (F-Asn) as a source of carbon and nitrogen. In this report, we first used a bioinformatics approach to identify other microorganisms that encode homologs of the Salmonella F-Asn utilization enzymes FraB (deglycase), FraD (kinase), and FraE (asparaginase). These candidate organisms were then tested with up to four different methods to confirm their ability to utilize F-Asn.

Salmonella spp. are remarkably adaptable pathogens, and this adaptability allows these bacteria to thrive in a variety of environments and hosts. The mechanisms with which these pathogens establish within a niche amid the native microbiota remain poorly understood. Here, we aimed to uncover the mechanisms that enable Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium strain ATCC 14028 to benefit from the degradation of plant tissue by a soft rot plant pathogen, Pectobacterium carotovorum.

Changyong Cheng, Hang Wang, Tiantian Ma, Xiao Han, Yongchun Yang, Jing Sun, Zhongwei Chen, Huifei Yu, Yi Hang, Fengdan Liu, Weihuan Fang, Lingli Jiang, Chang Cai, Houhui Song

Jurgita Aksomaitiene, Sigita Ramonaite, John E. Olsen, Mindaugas Malakauskas

Summary

Abstract

Abstract

Worldwide, norovirus is one of the most associated causes of acute gastroenteritis, which leads to nearly 50 000 child deaths every year in developing countries. Therefore, there is great demand to develop a rapid, low-cost, and accurate detection assay for the foodborne norovirus infection to reduce mortality caused by norovirus.

Publication date: Available online 12 February 2018


Author(s): Delfino Vubil, Clara Balleste-Delpierre, Rita Mabunda, Sozinho Acácio, Marcelino Garrine, Tacilta Nhampossa, Pedro Alonso, Inacio Mandomando, Jordi Vila

Abstract

Toxins, Vol. 10, Pages 81: Natural Occurrence of Nivalenol, Deoxynivalenol, and Deoxynivalenol-3-Glucoside in Polish Winter Wheat

Toxins doi: 10.3390/toxins10020081

Authors:
Marcin Bryła
Edyta Ksieniewicz-Woźniak
Agnieszka Waśkiewicz
Krystyna Szymczyk
Renata Jędrzejczak

Publication date: August 2018
, Volume 73

Author(s): Marilyn C. Erickson, Jye-Yin Liao, Mussie Y. Habteselassie, Jennifer L. Cannon

Publication date: August 2018
, Volume 73

Author(s): Ilenia Siciliano, Sara Franco Ortega, Giovanna Gilardi, Pietro Bosio, Angelo Garibaldi, Maria Lodovica Gullino

Swastik De, Katherine Kaus, Shada Sinclair, Brandon C. Case, Rich Olson

Reactive enamine stress caused by intracellular 2-aminoacrylate accumulation leads to pleiotropic growth defects in a variety of organisms. Members of the well-conserved RidA/YER057c/UK114 protein family prevent enamine stress by enhancing the breakdown of 2-aminoacrylate to pyruvate.

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, evolved from the closely related pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. During its emergence, Y. pestis is believed to have acquired its unique pathogenic characteristics through numerous gene gains/losses, genomic rearrangements and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) changes. One such SNP creates a single amino acid variation in the DNA binding domain of PhoP, the response regulator in the PhoP/PhoQ two-component system. Y.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a marine bacterium that is globally associated as the leading cause of seafood-borne gastroenteritis. V. parahaemolyticus uses various toxins and two type 3 secretion systems (T3SS-1 and T3SS-2) to subvert host cells during infection. We previously determined that V. parahaemolyticus T3SS-1 activity is upregulated by increasing the expression level of the master regulator ExsA under specific growth conditions. In this study, we set out to identify V.

The RidA protein (PF01042) from Salmonella enterica is a deaminase that quenches 2-aminoacrylate (2AA), and other reactive metabolites. In the absence of RidA, 2AA accumulates, damages cellular enzymes and compromises the metabolic network. In vitro, RidA homologs from all domains of life deaminate 2-aminoacrylate and RidA proteins from plants, bacteria, yeast, and humans complement the mutant phenotypes of a ridA mutant strain of S. enterica.