Research Publications (Food Safety)

Plankton-bacteria interactions may play essential roles in maintaining the persistence of pathogenic Vibrio spp. However, the actual plankton host of the toxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus that harbors thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and TDH-related hemolysin (TRH) remains unclear.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most perilous nonessential heavy metal for plants, owing to its high water solubility and obstruction with various physiological and biochemical processes. It enters food chain via plant uptake from contaminated soil, posing a grave menace to ecosystem and mankind. Green remediation comprises approaches intended at prudent use of natural resources for increasing profits to humans and environment.

Utilization of rhizosphere microorganisms to improve plant growth and salt tolerance has recently attracted widespread attention. The growth and salt tolerance of willows inoculated with Bacillus cereus JYZ-SD2 and Peniophora cinerea XC were studied under different salt stress conditions. The results showed that the chlorophyll content of willow cuttings inoculated with the XC strain increased significantly by 51.27%.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a serious threat to global public health due to its resistance to specific antibiotics. Bacteriophages particularly the lytic ones are promoted as a potential powerful-tool to combat infections caused by drug resistant bacteria; while several disadvantages limited the application of the temperate ones.

Phenotypic resistance to fluoroquinolones due to mutational changes in the gyrA and parC genes is common among clinical Vibrio strains; the plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) qnrVC genes were also suggested to play a role in enhancing resistance development.

Vibrio alginolyticus is an important conditional pathogen of fish, shrimp, shellfish, and other marine aquaculture animals that causes huge economic losses to the marine aquaculture industries. Temperature has a significant influence on its quorum sensing (QS) system, which is essential for its various physiological functions.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance among animal farms impels the development of novel antimicrobials or strategies for agri-food production. The combinational use of agents to achieve a synergistic antimicrobial effect provides many advantages such as dosage reduction, shortened treatment time, and avoidance of antimicrobial resistance.

Benzalkonium chloride (BC), a class of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), is widely used as a surface disinfectant in food industries and hospitals. To date, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of how bacterial pathogens respond to and develop resistance against QACs.

This study investigates the effect of antibiotics and sanitizers on biofilm forming Salmonella isolated from different seafood contact surfaces. Four Salmonella were isolated from 384 swab samples collected from various contact surfaces of fishing boats, fish landing centres and seafood processing plants. One out of four isolates was from the fishing boat (FB I -1) other three isolates were from the seafood processing plant (FPPII -4, FPPII- 5, FPPI-3).

Colistin resistance mediated by mcr-1-bearing plasmids poses a new challenge to treatment of Salmonella infections.

The geothermal zone of Araró, México, is located within the trans-Mexican volcanic belt, an area with numerous arsenic (As)-rich hot springs. In this study, the draft genome sequence of two endemic Bacillus strains (ZAP17 and ZAP62) from Araró microbial mat hot springs was determined, which were able to grow on arsenate As(V) (up to 64 mM) and arsenite As(III) (up to 32 mM).

Minimizing Aspergillus flavus growth is an effective strategy to mitigate aflatoxin contamination in food and agricultural products. In the present investigation, we attempted to utilize soil-associated yeasts from the Western and Eastern Ghats of India against A. flavus to reduce aflatoxin contamination. Forty-five yeast isolates were screened against A. flavus using overlay and dual plate assays.

Campylobacter infection is one of the most widespread foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. As a commensal microbe in the intestinal tracts of food-producing animals, Campylobacter easily enters the food chain and eventually transmits to human hosts through the consumption of contaminated food products.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) kills Staphylococcus aureus (Sau) through a contact-dependent mechanism that is catalyzed by cations, including iron, to convert hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH). There are two well-characterized ABC transporters that contribute to the pool of iron in Spn, named Pia and Piu.

Cell Surface hydrophobicity is one of the determinant biophysical parameters of bacterial aggregation for being networked to form a biofilm. Phytoconstituent, like vitexin, has long been in use for their antibacterial effect. The present work demonstrates the role of vitexin in modulating Staphylococcus aureus surface hydrophobicity while aggregating to form biofilm and pathogenesis in a host.

Vibrio alginolyticus is a globally distributed opportunistic pathogen that causes different degrees of disease in various marine organisms, such as fish, shrimp and shellfish. At present, vibriosis caused by V. alginolyticus has a wide epidemic range and causes frequent outbreaks, resulting in substantial losses in aquaculture.

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) encoded by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 19 (SPI-19) has been confirmed to be involved in bacterial infection or colonization in hosts and in the inhibition of the host T-cell immune response. However, the deletion of the core genes (clpV, vgrG, and hcp2) encoding the T6SS apparatus does not affect the phenotypes caused by SPI-19-encoded T6SS.

Studies on marine epizootics are often based on the identification of a single pathogen.

The emergence of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has limited drug options for the clinical treatment of S. aureus infections. Considering recent reports, therapeutic strategies targeting bacterial virulence hold great promise, and alpha-hemolysin (encoded by hla), a critical virulence factor of S. aureus, plays a vital role during bacterial infection.

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.

In light of spreading antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria, the development of novel approaches to combat such microorganisms is crucial. Salmonella enterica is pathogenic to humans, however, it can also infect poultry, being a potential foodborne pathogen when poultry-derived food is contaminated by this bacterium.

Staphylococcus aureus (Sau) plays an important role in human infections occurring in both the community and hospital settings.

Many studies have shown the efficacy of phage therapy in reducing intestinal pathogens. However, phage-based probiotic treatment is poorly studied in view of effects on the gut microbiota and intestinal inflammation. In this study, a lytic or a temperate phage (each at 4×108 PFU per day) or a streptomycin solution (40 mg per day) were administered to mice via drinking water for 31 days.

Symbiotic interactions play a crucial role in the phosphate (Pi) nutrient status of the host plant and offer resilience during biotic and abiotic stresses. Despite a competitive behavior of arsenic (AsV) with Pi, Serendipita indica association promotes plant growth by reducing arsenic bioavailability in the rhizosphere. Reduced arsenic availability is due to the adsorption, accumulation, and precipitation of arsenic in the fungus.

Monascus spp. are filamentous fungi used in fermented foods. They are also natural colorants and food preservatives. Certain metabolites of Monascus spp. lower cholesterol and have other health-promoting effects in humans. In the present study, we demonstrated that the fermentation products of Monascus spp. inhibited ATP synthesis and motility in toxigenic Vibrio cholerae.