Project description:Red fruits are valued for their vitamin C and polyphenol content, but traditional heat preservation methods used in juice and nectar production can significantly reduce these components. Therefore, alternative non-thermal methods are explored to inactivate foodborne pathogens like Escherichia coli while maintaining the nutritional value. However, knowledge about the effects of these technologies on bacterial cells is limited. This study analyzed differentially expressed genes of E. coli ATCC 8739 inoculated in strawberry nectar after exposure to three treatments with two sets of parameters each, namely thermal treatment, high-pressure processing (HPP), and moderate-intensity pulsed electric field (MIPEF). The highest inactivation efficiency was achieved with HPP at 400 MPa, 1 min, reducing microbial counts by 5.0±0.3 log cfu/mL, and thermal treatment at 60°C, 200 s, achieving a reduction of 4.4±0.2 log cfu/mL, while no inactivation was observed with MIPEF at 6 kV/cm. Transcriptomic analysis showed that thermal and HPP treatments caused similar molecular stress responses in E. coli. In both cases, the most overexpressed genes encoded outer membrane proteins, which may lead to the activation of the envelope stress response. Despite no microbial inactivation was revealed after MIPEF treatment, strong transcriptomic responses were observed, particularly in genes related to membrane integrity and metabolic activity. Numerous overexpressed genes associated with ABC transporters, outer membrane proteins, and lipoproteins were identified, which could increase the strain’s virulence. This study provides insights into the stress response mechanisms induced by conventional and novel treatments. Nevertheless, further research is needed to investigate the long-term effects on bacterial populations.
Project description:Escherichia coli DH1 cultures with treated with 6% 1,4 Butanediol for 1 hour and compared with untreated cultures The data from this experiment was used to identify a candidate for further study as described in Szmidt et al 2013 Utilizing a highly responsive gene, yhjX, in E. coli based production of 1,4-Butanediol submitted to Chemical Engineering Science
Project description:The transcriptional profile of Escherichia coli O157 treated with small molecule inhibitors of type III secretion was determined. Four variations of the small molecule inhibitor were assessed for global changes in transcription by treating cells with 20uM of inhibitor or an equivalent volume of DMSO (inhibitor solvent). Keywords: treatment, dose, Cy3, Cy5, 2-colour For each inhibitor, biological tripicates of treated (20uM inhibitor in DMSO) and untreated (DMSO only) cultures were grown in 25ml of MEM-HEPES supplemented with 0.1% Glucose and 250nM Fe(NO3)2. RNA was extracted from 15ml of culture at OD 0.7 and labeled with Cy5 (treated) and Cy3 (untreated) (excepting ME0055 that was performed as a dye swap). Labeled untreated RNA was pooled prior to hybridisation. Treated RNA (biological replicates) and pooled untreated RNA was hybridised to microarray slides. Slides were scanned using an Axon 4100A scanner and data processed using Genespring GX.
Project description:DNA microarray experiments were used to compare gene expression profiles of untreated and 5-azacytidine treated Escherichia coli at both logarithmic phase and early stationary phase The goal was to determine the effect of cytosine DNA methylation loss on gene expression (5-azacytidine is a methylation inhibitor)