Research Publications (Food Safety)

The continuously high numbers of food-borne disease outbreaks document that current intervention techniques are not yet satisfactory. This study describes a novel wash for tomatoes that can be used as part of the food processing chain and is designed to prevent contamination with serovars of Salmonella enterica. The wash contains ethyl acetoacetate (EAA) at a concentration of 8% in H2O. This wash reduced live bacterial counts (on Salmonella Shigella agar) of externally added S.

Journal of Bacteriology, Ahead of Print. Shigella flexneri implements the Wzy-dependent pathway to biosynthesize the O antigen (Oag) component of its surface lipopolysaccharide.

Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. are known as the leading causes of food poisoning worldwide. In this study, we developed a new multiple fluorescent saltatory rolling circle amplification (MF-SRCA) assay for simultaneous and sensitive detection of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. in food based on the generation of real-time fluorescence curves that distinguish the positive from the negative samples.

The gut microbiome is essential for a host to digest food, maintain health, and adapt to environments. Bacterial communities of gut microbiota are influenced by diverse factors including host physiology and the environment. Many non-human primates (NHPs), which are physiologically close to humans, are in danger of extinction.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered a sink and a source of antibiotic resistance. In this study, we applied both culture-dependent and SmartChip-based culture-independent approaches for the investigation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) at Jungnang (JN), located in the Han River, Seoul, South Korea, for 2 years, i.e., 2017 and 2018.

In recent years, many reports focus on the hepatotoxicity of Gynura segetum root extract (GSrE), but the interaction between GSrE and the gut microbiota is still unclear. This study investigated the mechanism of GSrE-induced hepatotoxicity of different doses and exposure durations by combining metabolomics and gut microbiota analysis. SD rats were divided into 3 groups: blank, low-dose (7.5 g/kg), and high-dose (15 g/kg) groups.

mBio, Ahead of Print.

Multiple drug-resistant (MDR) Shigella isolates have been reported worldwide. Between May 2017 and September 2018, 55 Shigella flexneri 2a isolates were collected from 3322 stool samples of 0–10-year-old outpatients with diarrhea at the Children's Hospital of Urumqi, China. All isolates were characterized using serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and whole-genome sequencing.

In the worldwide health threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) play a critical role in favoring the dissemination of resistance genes. Among them, the genomic island GIsul2 and the ISCR-related element CR2-sul2 unit are believed to participate in this dissemination. However, the mobility of the two elements has not yet been demonstrated.

The gastrointestinal microbial community plays a crucial role in host health, immunity, protection, development and provides nutrients to the host. The rising human-induced pollution and heavy metal contamination in all aquatic systems globally has led us to explore the gut microbial diversity of two exotic invasive fish Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1858) and Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus,1857) from river Yamuna, India.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Shigella invasion plasmid antigen B (IpaB) plays an important role in causing shigellosis. While IpaB’s protein structure, contribution to disease mechanism, and protective immunity against Shigella infection have been well studied, the significance of individual antigenic domains, especially at the N terminus, has not been systematically characterized.

International Journal of Food Science & Technology, Accepted Article. Shigella is the main cause of endemic diarrhoea in low-income countries. Fast and accurate detection of this pathogen can effectively prevent the consumption of contaminated food and reduce the risk of diarrhoea outbreaks. Recently, a competitive annealing mediated isothermal amplification (CAMP) assay was proposed as a novel nucleic acid detection technology.

Background Peutz–Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by the development of pigmented spots and gastrointestinal polyps and increased susceptibility to cancers.

Ceftazidime/avibactam (CZA) is an alternative antibiotic used for the treatment of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE). However, the CZA-resistant CRE strains have been detected worldwide. Therefore, it is critical to screen CZA-resistant CRE strains in colonized patients or a specific population so as to rapidly implement infection control measures to limit their transmission.

Background Shigellosis, traditionally a foodborne and waterborne infection, causes substantial morbidity globally.

Salmonella is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses worldwide. The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella strains has increased global concern for salmonellosis.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print. We describe the first occurrence in Spain of community cases of CTX-M-27-producing Shigella sonnei sequence type 152 (ST152), resistant to quinolones and azithromycin. The cases included adult males and also one pediatric case. The isolates were clustered together with an Australian isolate and differed from other outbreak-causing strains in England by more than 50 alleles.

Bacterial pathogens, such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Shigella spp., are important causes of foodborne illness internationally. Recovery of these organisms from foods is critical for food safety investigations to support attribution of illnesses to specific food commodities; however, isolation of bacterial cultures can be challenging. Methods for the isolation of STEC and Shigella spp.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print.

The obligate intracellular bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis store glycogen in the lumen of the vacuoles in which they grow. Glycogen catabolism generates glucose-1-phosphate (Glc1P), while the bacteria can take up only glucose-6-phosphate (Glc6P). We tested whether the conversion of Glc1P into Glc6P could be catalyzed by a phosphoglucomutase (PGM) of host or bacterial origin. We found no evidence for the presence of the host PGM in the vacuole. Two C.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Accepted Article. Ten bacteriophages with lytic activity against Shigella flexneri were tested for their resistance to physicochemical conditions found in food matrices. Phage viability and activity were evaluated at different temperatures, pH values and NaCl concentrations. In addition, challenge tests with each individual phage against ATCC12022 were conducted to evaluate their use as biocontrol agents.

Journal of Bacteriology, Ahead of Print. Members of the AraC family of transcriptional regulators (AFTRs) control the expression of many genes important to cellular processes, including virulence. In Shigella species, the type III secretion system (T3SS), a key determinant for host cell invasion, is regulated by the three-tiered VirF/VirB/MxiE transcriptional cascade. Both VirF and MxiE belong to the AFTRs and are characterized as positive transcriptional regulators.

The gut microbiota plays an important role in a variety of cardiovascular diseases. The probiotics screened based on microbiota can effectively improve metabolism and immune function of the body, which is of great value in the field of cardiovascular disease treatment. Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) refer to the lesion or injury of the abdominal aortic wall resulting in a localized bulge, which is one of the cardiovascular diseases with pulsing mass as the main clinical symptom.

Buyang Huanwu decoction (BHD) is a well-known Chinese herbal prescription. It has been widely used in the clinical treatment of cerebral ischemia (CI) in China. However, the mechanism underlying the treatment of CI with BHD remains to be elucidated. In this study, we combined microbiomic and metabolomic strategies to explore the therapeutic effects of BHD on middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats.

Background The National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) captures data on foodborne, waterborne, and enteric illness outbreaks in the United States. This study describes enteric illness outbreaks reported during 11 years of surveillance. Methods We extracted finalized reports from NORS for outbreaks occurring during 2009–2019.