Research Publications (Food Safety)

Publication date: March 2016
, Volume 61
Author(s): Marta Dušková, Josef Kameník, Ines Lačanin, Ondrej Šedo, Zbyněk Zdráhal

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Publication date: 1 April 2016
, Volume 196
Author(s): Vanessa Simão, Josias Merib, Adriana N. Dias, Eduardo Carasek

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a syndrome caused by the ingestion of fish contaminated with Ciguatoxins (CTXs). These phycotoxins are produced mainly by dinoflagellates that belong to the genus Gambierdiscus that are transformed in more toxic forms in predatory fish guts, and are more present in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean areas. It is estimated that CFP causes per year more than 10,000 intoxications worldwide.

Sensing potential nitrogen-containing respiratory substrates such as nitrate, nitrite, hydroxylamine, nitric oxide (NO) or nitrous oxide (N2O) in the environment and subsequent up-regulation of corresponding catabolic enzymes is essential for many microbial cells. The molecular mechanisms of such adaptive responses are, however, highly diverse in different species.

Elevated levels of neurotoxic methylmercury in Arctic food-webs pose health risks for indigenous populations that consume large quantities of marine mammals and fish. Estuaries provide critical hunting and fishing territory for these populations, and, until recently, benthic sediment was thought to be the main methylmercury source for coastal fish. New...

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Publication date: 4 January 2016
, Volume 216
Author(s): Angus Knight, John Haines, Ambroos Stals, Dan Li, Mieke Uyttendaele, Alastair Knight, Lee-Ann Jaykus

Banya Banowary, Van Tuan Dang, Subir Sarker, Joanne H. Connolly, Jeremy Chenu, Peter Groves, Michelle Ayton, Shane Raidal, Aruna Devi, Thiru Vanniasinkam, Seyed A. Ghorashi

The cholera toxin genes of Vibrio cholerae are encoded by CTX, a lysogenic bacteriophage. Infection with this phage plays a determinant role in toxigenicity conversion and the emergence of new clones of pathogenic V. cholerae. Multiple phage alleles, defined by sequence types of the repressor gene rstR, have been found, showing the divergence of phage genomes. Pre-CTX, which is characterized by the absence of toxin genes, is predicted to be the precursor of CTX.

Although clinical epidemiology lists human enteric viruses to be among the primary causes of acute gastroenteritis in the human population, their circulation in the environment remains poorly investigated. These viruses are excreted by the human population into sewers and may be released into rivers through the effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

The Aspergillus japonicus β-fructofuranosidase catalyzes the industrially important biotransformation of sucrose to fructooligosaccharides. Operating at high substrate loading and temperatures between 50 and 60°C, the enzyme activity is negatively influenced by glucose product inhibition and thermal instability. To address these limitations, the solvent-exposed loop regions of the β-fructofuranosidase were engineered using a combined crystal structure- and evolutionary-guided approach.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is the causative agent of bloody diarrhea and extraintestinal sequelae in humans, most importantly hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Besides the bacteriophage-encoded Shiga toxin gene (stx), EHEC harbors the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), which confers the ability to cause attaching and effacing lesions.

The microcin PDI inhibits a diverse group of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. Coculture of a single-gene knockout library (BW25113; n = 3,985 mutants) against a microcin PDI-producing strain (E. coli 25) identified six mutants that were not susceptible (atpA, atpF, dsbA, dsbB, ompF, and ompR). Complementation of these genes restored susceptibility in all cases, and the loss of susceptibility was confirmed through independent gene knockouts in E. coli O157:H7 Sakai.

Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. Domestic ruminants are considered to be the main reservoir. Sheep, in particular, may frequently cause outbreaks in humans. Because within-flock circulation data are essential to implementing optimal management strategies, we performed a follow-up study of a naturally infected flock of dairy sheep. We aimed to (i) describe C.

Refrigerated food processing facilities are specific man-made niches likely to harbor cold-tolerant bacteria. To characterize this type of microbiota and study the link between processing plant and product microbiomes, we followed and compared microbiota associated with the raw materials and processing stages of a vacuum-packaged, cooked sausage product affected by a prolonged quality fluctuation with occasional spoilage manifestations during shelf life.

The identification of core genes involved in the biosynthesis of saxitoxin (STX) offers a great opportunity to detect toxic algae associated with paralytic shellfish toxins (PST). In the Yellow Sea (YS) in China, both toxic and nontoxic Alexandrium species are present, which makes it a difficult issue to specifically monitor PST-producing toxic algae.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) produced by Staphylococcus aureus have superantigenic and emetic activities, which cause toxic shock syndrome and staphylococcal food poisoning, respectively. Our previous study demonstrated that the sequence of SET has a low level of similarity to the sequences of other SEs and exhibits atypical bioactivities. Hence, we further explored whether there is an additional SET-related gene in S. aureus strains. One SET-like gene was found in the genome of S.

Lantibiotics are antimicrobial peptides with potential applications as the next generation of antimicrobials in the food industry and/or the pharmaceutical industry. Nisin has successfully been used as a food preservative for over 40 years, but its major drawback is its limited stability under neutral and alkaline pH conditions. To identify alternatives with better biochemical properties, we screened more than 100 strains of the Bacillus cereus group.

Aims
The main objective of this study was to investigate the antifungal effect of Solanum torvum leaves against different field and storage fungi, and to identify its active compound. Also, to evaluate in vitro and in vivo inhibitory efficacy on toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium verticillioides.

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2015

Author(s): Ruihua Zhang, Guomei Zhou, Yinghao Xin, Junhao Chen, Shaoli Lin, Ye Tian, Zhijing Xie, Shijin Jiang

A simple analytical method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of 18 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in edible oil. The target compounds were extracted by acetonitrile, purified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) using graphitized carbon black (GCB) and octadecyl (C18), and analyzed by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ES-MS/MS) in negative ion mode.

Dana Ziuzina, Daniela Boehm, Sonal Patil, P. J. Cullen, Paula Bourke