Research Publications (Food Safety)

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging opportunistic pathogen that, on the one hand, causes severe nosocomial infection in immunocompromised populations with a high mortality rate and, on the other hand, is present ubiquitously in the environment. This study, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, isolated and characterized S. maltophilia from leafy green vegetables produced by hydroponic farms and from a hydroponic farming facility in Singapore. Eleven S.

Membrane blebs are released from Gram-negative bacteria, however, little is known about Brucella blebs. This work pursued two objectives, the first was to determine and identify the proteins in the membrane blebs by proteomics and in silico analysis. The second aim was to evaluate the use of membrane blebs of Brucella abortus 2308 and B. abortus RB51 as an acellular vaccine in vivo and in vitro. To achieve these aims, membrane blebs from B.

Modern threats of bioterrorism force the need for multiple detection of biothreat agents to determine the presence or absence of such agents in suspicious samples. Here, we present a rapid electrochemical fiveplex biochip screening assay for detection of the bioterrorism relevant low molecular weight toxins saxitoxin, microcystin-LR, T-2 toxin, roridin A and aflatoxin B1 relying on anti-idiotypic antibodies as epitope-mimicking reagents.

Salmonella is one of the most common food-borne pathogens. It can be transmitted between chickens, as well as to people by contaminated poultry products. In our study, we distinguished chickens with different resistances mainly based on bacterial loads. We compared the cecal tonsil transcriptomes between the susceptible and resistant chickens after Salmonella infection, aiming to identify the crucial genes participating in the antibacterial activity in the cecal tonsil.

Author(s): Dan Tang, Xueling Shi, Huayun Guo, Yuze Bai, Chenchen Shen, Yiping Zhang, Zhengfei Wang

Author(s): Limei Chen, Yanfen Liao, Xiaoqian Ma, Yadong Niu

Author(s): Francesco Chidichimo, Michele De Biase, Salvatore Straface

Author(s): Yang Long, Xin Liu, Xiao-zhen Tan, Chun-xia Jiang, Shao-wei Chen, Guan-nan Liang, Xue-mei He, Jian Wu, Tao Chen, Yong Xu

Author(s): Elisa Costa, Chiara Gambardella, Veronica Piazza, Massimo Vassalli, Francesca Sbrana, Silvia Lavorano, Francesca Garaventa, Marco Faimali

Author(s): Wei Gao, Misako Yamada, Rieko Ohki, Yuji Nagashima, Ryohei Tatsuno, Koichi Ikeda, Kentaro Kawatsu, Tomohiro Takatani, Osamu Arakawa

In this study, we determined the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in road dust from Myanmar, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam. PAHs were detected in urban and rural areas of Myanmar at mean concentrations of 630 ng/g dry weight and 200 ng/g dry weight, respectively. PAHs were also detected in road dust from Vietnam (mean 1700 ng/g) and Taiwan (2400 ng/g).

Microbial contamination of beef cattle carcases and subsequent cross-contamination during processing is inevitable and virtually impossible to prevent. The understanding of microbial contamination in the beef industry is currently limited to hypotheses based on traditional microbiological tools. Additionally, the complex structural and functional responses of beef cattle microbial communities to the fragmentation in the supply chain remain unknown.

LuxR‐type transcriptional factors are essential in many bacterial physiological processes. However, there have been no reports on their roles in Aeromonas hydrophila. In this study, six stable silent strains were constructed using shRNA. Significant decreases in the expression levels of luxR05, luxR08, luxR19, luxR11, luxR164 and luxR165 were shown in their respective strains by qRT‐PCR.

UV-C treatment technology is proposed as a potential alternative to thermal treatments for decontamination of beverages because heat may adversely affect the nutritive value and quality. Effects of UV-C irradiation processing on microbial inactivation, ascorbic acid, and volatile aromatics of watermelon beverage were evaluated using a flow-through UV system.

GCN2 (general control nonrepressed 2) is a serine/threonine-protein kinase that regulates translation in response to stressors such as amino acid and purin deprivation, cold shock, wounding, cadmium, and UV-C exposure. Activated GCN2 phosphorylates the α-subunit of the eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2) leading to a drastic inhibition of protein synthesis and shifting translation to specific mRNAs.

Aspergillus ochraceus is reported to be the major contributor of ochratoxin A (OTA), classified as one of the possible human carcinogen (group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The heterotrimeric velvet complex proteins, LaeA/VeA/VelB, have been most studied in fungi to clarify the relation between light-dependent morphology and secondary metabolism. To explore possible genetic targets to control OTA contamination, we have identified laeA, veA, and velB in A. ochraceus.

Strategies to reduce economic losses associated with post-weaning diarrhea in pig farming include high-level dietary zinc oxide supplementation. However, excessive usage of zinc oxide in the pig production sector was found to be associated with accumulation of multidrug resistant bacteria in these animals, presenting an environmental burden through contaminated manure.

In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the GBD 2017 Non-Typhoidal Salmonella Invasive Disease Collaborators1 estimate the global burden of invasive non-typhoidal salmonella disease using Bayesian meta-regression tools. The results show a high but decreasing number of cases since 2005 with a continuously high case fatality rate, consistent with previous estimates.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the leading bacterial causes of intestinal inflammation and diarrhea. However, the ETEC is frequently resistant to common antibiotics. In this study, we explored ...

by Seinen Chow, Nobuharu Inaba, Satoshi Nagai, Hiroaki Kurogi, Yoji Nakamura, Takashi Yanagimoto, Hideki Tanaka, Daisuke Hasegawa, Taiga Asakura, Jun Kikuchi, Tsutomu Tomoda, Taketoshi Kodama

by Felipe Betoni Saraiva, Ana Caroline Cavalcante de Araújo, Anna Érika Vieira de Araújo, José Procópio Moreno Senna

ABSTRACT

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are widely used for whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based subtyping of foodborne pathogens in outbreak and source tracking investigations. Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are commonly present in bacterial genomes and may affect SNP subtyping results if their evolutionary history and dynamics differ from that of the bacterial chromosomes.

Escherichia coli is a leading contributor to infectious diarrhea and child mortality worldwide, but it remains unknown how alterations in the gut microbiome vary for distinct E. coli pathotype infections and whether these signatures can be used for diagnostic purposes. Further, the majority of enteric diarrheal infections are not diagnosed with respect to their etiological agent(s) due to technical challenges.