Research Publications (Food Safety)

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 (EHEC) causes severe complications such as hemolytic uremic syndrome. Contaminated ready-to-eat (RTE) food is one of the vehicles of multijurisdictional outbreaks of foodborne disease worldwide. Multijurisdictional (covering cities, towns, and villages) outbreaks of EHEC are usually linked to an increase in cases, and here we describe such an outbreak involving 29 cases in October 2017 in the Niigata Prefecture.

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium responsible for a wide variety of infectious diseases, and its methicillin-resistant isolates pose a serious worldwide public health risk. New drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

Deoxynivalenol (DON), which is one of the prevalent mycotoxins in food and feeds, exerts adverse effects on animal and human health. These effects are mainly associated with its ribotoxic properties, although few studies suggest the involvement of other mechanisms of action. To assess the ability of DON to disrupt estrogen signaling, we conducted an in vitro study using MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells.

An increasing number of studies have clarified that ferroptosis plays a vital role in neurodegenerative diseases, which is characterized by the accumulation of Fe2+, lipid peroxidation, and alteration of mitochondrial structure. However, whether ferroptosis is involved in nerve injury caused by lead exposure remains unclear. In this study, HT22 cells and mice were treated with lead acetate to investigate the role of ferroptosis in lead neurotoxicity.

Toxoplasma gondii infects almost all warm-blooded animals, and toxoplasmosis is a common zoonotic parasitic disease worldwide. A nested PCR with high specificity and sensitivity was developed in this study based on the data collected on the infection rate of toxoplasmosis in chickens in Shandong province, and the effect of low temperature on the infectivity of tachyzoites was investigated. The sampling data showed that the total prevalence of T.

Old yellow enzymes (OYEs) are widely found in the bacterial, fungal, and plant kingdoms but absent in humans and have been used as biocatalysts for decades. However, OYEs’ physiological function in bacterial stress response and infection situations remained enigmatic. As a pathogen, the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus adapts to numerous stress conditions during pathogenesis. Here, we show that in S. aureus genome, two paralogous genes (ofrA and ofrB) encode for two OYEs.

The potentially pathogenic species of the genus Vibrio pose a threat to both humans and animals, creating medical burdens and economic losses to the mariculture industry. Improvements in surveillance and diagnosis are needed to successfully manage vibriosis outbreaks. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) can provide rapid diagnosis and has been widely used in the identification of Vibrio spp.

The foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes, (Lm), frequently undergoes selection pressure associated with the extensive use of disinfectants, such as quaternary ammonium compounds, which are widely used in food processing plants.

Recently, using a deep learning approach, the novel antibiotic halicin was discovered. We compared the antibacterial activities of two novel bactericidal antimicrobial agents, i.e., the synthetic antibacterial and antibiofilm peptide (SAAP)-148 with this antibiotic halicin.

Enzymes belonging to the shikimate pathway have long been considered promising targets for antibacterial drugs because they have no counterpart in mammals and are essential for bacterial growth and virulence.

Arsenic is widely present in nature and is a class I carcinogen confirmed by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The liver is responsible for biotransformation in the body and is one of the major organs where arsenic accumulates in the body, but the mechanisms of arsenic-induced abnormal DNA damage repair pathways in the liver are still unclear.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Non-typhoidal Salmonella serotypes continue to be major food safety and public health threats worldwide. In the era of emerging antimicrobial resistance, it is imperative to search for alternative strategies of infection control. Present study deals with passive protection of young chicks using polyclonal egg yolk antibodies (IgY).

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Accepted Article. To study the effect of low-dose electron beam irradiation treatment on the postharvest storage quality of Actinidia arguta. The kiwifruit was irradiated with 300, 400, and 500 Gy electron beam, respectively, stored at 0-1°C with 90%-95% RH. The physical and chemical indexes, physiological indexes and resistance enzyme activities of the fruits were determined.

Molecular Microbiology, Accepted Article. Teg49 is a S. aureus trans-acting regulatory sRNA derived from cleavage of the sarA P3 transcript. We showed here by RNA-Seq that the 5’ trident-like structure in Teg49 regulates transcriptionally (direct and indirect) 22 genes distinct from sarA.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aims This study aims at immobilization of fungal mutants on nanosilica-carriers for designing efficient biosorbents as a significant new technology for decontamination practices and maximizing their heavy metal (HM) sorption proficiency through the experimental design methodology. Materials and Results Endophytic fungal mutant strains, Chaetomium globosum El26 mutant and Alternaria alternata

by Hector S. Alvarez-Manzo, Robert K. Davidson, Jasper Van Cauwelaert de Wyels, Katherine L. Cotten, Benjamin Nguyen, Melody Xiao, Zeyu Zhu, Jon Anthony, Tim van Opijnen, Kimberly Michele Davis Antibiotic tolerance is typically associated with a phenotypic change within a bacterial population, resulting in a transient decrease in antibiotic susceptibility that can contribute to treatment failure and recurrent infections.

The extent to which the full diversity of the subsurface microbiome can be captured via cultivation is likely hindered by the inevitable loss of cellular viability from decompression during sampling, enrichment, and isolation. Furthermore, the pressure tolerance of previously isolated strains that span surface and subsurface ecosystems can shed light into microbial activity and pressure adaptation in these transition zones.

Background

Recent data indicate the importance of gut-kidney axis in the pathogenesis of Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Growing evidence suggests the alterations of diversity and composition of gut microbiome among patients with IgAN, however, the details are not yet fully understood.

Methods

Accumulating evidence has denoted the danger of resistance in tenacious organisms like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA, a supple bacterium that adopts a variety of antibiotic resistance mechanisms, is the cause of multiple life-threatening conditions. Approaching a post-antibiotic era, bacteria-specific natural predators, bacteriophages, are now given the chance to prove eligible for joining the antibacterial weaponry.

Cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL), a non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is thought to arise from mature tissue-resident memory T cells. The most common subtypes include Mycosis Fungoides and Sezary Syndrome. The role of skin microbiota remains unclear in the symptom manifestation of MF.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin that can contaminate a wide range of crops such as grains and grapes. In this study, a novel fungal mutant strain (FS-UV-21) with a high OTA degradation rate (74.5%) was obtained from Aspergillus niger irradiated with ultraviolet light (15 W for 20 min).

Nanotechnology is emerging as a new technology with encouraging innovations. Global antibiotic use has grown enormously, with antibiotic resistance increasing by about 80 percent. In view of this alarming situation, intensive research has been carried out into biogenic nanoparticles and their antibacterial, antifungal, and antitumor activities.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Wild boar is the main sylvatic reservoir of the genotype 3 of hepatitis E virus (HEV). The occurrence of HEV-3 human cases has been linked to the consumption of raw or undercooked pig and wild boar meat and liver. The zoonotic transmission of HEV-3 has been confirmed by sequencing identical or strictly related viral strains in humans, wild boar, and derived food.

Journal of Separation Science, Accepted Article. A novel method for detecting pesticide multi-residue in grass forage (alfalfa and oat) was established based on the one-step automatic extraction and purification technology of quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe combined with ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. In order to develop a mechanistic bacterial dose-response model, based on the concept of Key Events Dose-Response Framework (KEDRF), this study aimed to investigate the invasion of intestinal model cells (Caco-2) by Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes and described the behavior of both pathogens as a mathematical model using Bayesian inference.