Research Publications (Food Safety)

Infection and Immunity, Volume 90, Issue 5, May 2022. Staphylococcal endophthalmitis is one of the leading causes of blindness following ocular surgery and trauma. Dysregulated inflammation during bacterial endophthalmitis causes host-induced inflammatory damage and vision loss if it remains unchecked. Emerging evidence indicates that inflammasome plays a critical role in regulating innate immunity in various infectious and inflammatory diseases.

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Volume 35, Issue 2, April 2022. Bacillus cereus group species are widespread, Gram-positive, spore-forming environmental bacteria. B. cereus sensu stricto is one of the major causes of food poisoning worldwide. In high-risk individuals, such as preterm neonates, B. cereus infections can cause fatal infections.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Bacterial species in the polymicrobial community evolve interspecific interaction relationships to adapt to the survival stresses imposed by neighbors or environmental cues. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are two common bacterial pathogens frequently coisolated from patients with burns and respiratory disease.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. The growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and associated hydrogen sulfide production can be problematic in a range of industries such that inhibition strategies are needed. A range of SRB can reduce metal ions, a strategy that has been utilized for bioremediation, metal recovery, and synthesis of precious metal catalysts.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. The alternative sigma factor B (σB) contributes to the stress tolerance of the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes by upregulating the general stress response. We previously showed that σB loss-of-function mutations arise frequently in strains of L. monocytogenes and suggested that mild stresses might favor the selection of such mutations.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Blooms of many dinoflagellates, including several harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, are seeded and revived through the germination of benthic resting cysts. Temperature is a key determinant of cysts’ germination rate, and temperature–germination rate relationships are therefore fundamental to understanding species’ germling cell production, cyst bed persistence, and resilience to climate warming.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Bacteria coping with oxygen deficiency use alternative terminal electron acceptors for NADH regeneration, particularly fumarate. Fumarate is reduced by the FAD_binding_2 domain of cytoplasmic fumarate reductase in many bacteria. The variability of the primary structure of this domain in homologous proteins suggests the existence of reducing activities with different specificities.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Selection for Listeria monocytogenes strains that are tolerant to quaternary ammonium compounds (such as benzalkonium chloride [BC]) is a concern across the food industry, including in fresh produce processing environments. This study evaluated the ability of 67 strains of produce-associated L. monocytogenes and other Listeria spp.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 88, Issue 10, May 2022. The infection of a bacterium by a tailed phage starts from the adsorption process, which consists of a specific and strong interaction between viral proteins called receptor binding proteins (RBPs) and receptors located on the bacterial surface.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 88, Issue 10, May 2022. As the cases of Salmonella enterica infections associated with contaminated water are increasing, this study was conducted to address the role of surface water as a reservoir of S. enterica serotypes.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 88, Issue 10, May 2022. To maintain food safety and flock health in broiler chicken production, biosecurity approaches to keep chicken barns free of pathogens are important. Canadian broiler chicken producers must deep clean their barns with chemical disinfectants at least once annually (full disinfection [FD]) and may wash with water (water wash [WW]) throughout the year.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 88, Issue 10, May 2022. To understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the stress responses of the important foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, we collected 139 strains (meat, n = 25; dairy, n = 10; vegetable, n = 8; seafood, n = 14; mixed food, n = 4; and food processing environments, n = 78), mostly isolated in Ireland, and subjected

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 88, Issue 10, May 2022. The Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is an important pathogen that causes a foodborne illness with a high percentage of fatalities. Surface proteins, specifically expressed from a wide range of L. monocytogenes serotypes under selective enrichment culture conditions, can serve as targets for the detection and isolation of this pathogen using antibody-based methods.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print. Activated platelets have known antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Accelerated clearance of platelets induced by S. aureus can result in thrombocytopenia and increased mortality in patients. Recent studies suggest that P2Y12 inhibition protects platelets from accelerated clearance. We therefore evaluated the effect of P2Y12 inhibition on clinical outcomes in patients with S.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major threat to human health globally. Staphylococcus aureus is recognized as a cause of disease worldwide, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). The enzyme sortase A (SrtA), present on the cell surface of S.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print. Novel neplanocin A derivatives have been identified as potent and selective inhibitors of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication in vitro. These include (1S,2R,5R)-5-(5-bromo-4-methyl-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]-pyrimidin-7-yl)-3-(hydroxymethyl)cyclopent-3-ene-1,2-diol (AR-II-04-26) and (1S,2R,5R)-5-(4-amino-3-iodo-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-1-yl)-3-(hydroxylmethyl)cyclopent-3-ene-1,2-diol (MK-III-02-03).

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Ahead of Print. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains are a leading cause of many invasive clinical syndromes, and pose treatment difficulties due to their in vitro resistance to most β-lactams on standard laboratory testing.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Volume 66, Issue 5, May 2022. Staphylococcus aureus causes a broad spectrum of diseases in humans and animals. It is frequently associated with inflammatory skin disorders such as atopic dermatitis, where it aggravates symptoms. Treatment of S. aureus-associated skin infections with antibiotics is discouraged due to their broad-range deleterious effect on healthy skin microbiota and their ability to promote the development of resistance.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Volume 66, Issue 5, May 2022. Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are important bacterial causes of human foodborne illness. Despite several years of reduced antibiotics usage in livestock production in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US), a high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) persists in Campylobacter.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Volume 66, Issue 5, May 2022. GST-HG131, a novel dihydroquinolizinone (DHQ) compound, has been shown to reduce circulating levels of HBsAg in animals. This first-in-human trial evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profile of GST-HG131 in healthy Chinese subjects. This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase Ia clinical trial that was conducted in two parts.

Author(s): Xiaoxia Wang, Xuhong Chang, Haibing Zhan, Chengyun Li, Qiong Zhang, Sheng Li, Yingbiao Sun. Autophagy activation is one of the survival mechanisms of ethanol-induced hepatitis in mammals. Both Curcumin and Baicalin have anti-inflammatory effects, but the mechanism of their combined action in ethanol-induced hepatitis is still unclear.

Author(s): Jiaju Qiao, Mengjiao Zhu, Yun Fan, Zhaoxin Lu, Fengxia Lv, Haizhen Zhao, Xiaomei Bie. Staphylococcus aureus can survive at low temperature which existed a potential risk of food safety. In this paper, the properties of cold-induced small colony variants (SCVs) were investigated including the antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation and virulence.

Author(s): Longfeng Wang, Xiaoxue Kong, Yun Jiang. High pressure processing (HPP) has been demonstrated as an effective technique in reducing E. coli O157:H7 levels on beef. However, an “injure and recover” action of E. coli O157:H7 was found to raise their beef contamination after HPP disinfection. Furthermore, the recovered cell could be miscalculated owing to the complex bacterial community of meat.

Author(s): Jiai Yan, Ruijin Yang, Shuhuai Yu, Wei Zhao. Staphylococcus aureus is a notorious foodborne pathogen capable of producing various toxins including heat-stable enterotoxin, forming biofilm, evolving to multidrug-resistant strains including methicillin-resistant&n

Author(s): Mert Sudagidan, Veli Cengiz Ozalp, Orhan Öztürk, Mediha Nur Zafer Yurt, Orhan Yavuz, Behiye Busra Tasbasi, Samet Ucak, Zehra Seda Mavili, Aysen Coban, Ali Aydin. Biofilm formation is one of the defense mechanisms of bacteria against disinfectants and antimicrobials. The aim of this study was to determine biofilm-forming L.monocytogenes from fish processing and salmon surfaces.