4.7 Article

Antimicrobial Activity and Action Mechanism of Thymoquinone against Bacillus cereus and Its Spores

期刊

FOODS
卷 10, 期 12, 页码 -

出版社

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/foods10123048

关键词

thymoquinone; Bacillus cereus; antimicrobial activity; reconstituted infant formula; toxin-related gene; spores

资金

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [31801659]
  2. Class General Financial Grant from the Shaanxi Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2018BSHEDZZ150]
  3. Shaanxi Key Research and Development Program [2021NY-125]

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Thymoquinone (TQ) demonstrated effective antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus by inhibiting its growth and germination, as well as disrupting the cell metabolism and protein synthesis through mechanisms such as reducing intracellular ATP concentration. Additionally, TQ downregulated the transcription of genes related to virulence factors in B. cereus, highlighting its potential as a natural antimicrobial preservative in controlling food contamination and foodborne diseases.
In this study, thymoquinone (TQ), a natural active substance, was investigated for its antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, and its inhibitory effect on B. cereus in reconstituted infant formula (RIF) was evaluated. In addition, the inhibitory effect of TQ on B. cereus spore germination was explored. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) of TQ against eight B. cereus strains ranged from 4.0 to 8.0 mu g/mL, whereas B. cereus treated with TQ displayed a longer lag phase than the untreated control. TQ exerted a good bactericidal effect on B. cereus in Luria-Bertani broth. In addition, TQ obviously reduced the intracellular ATP concentration of B. cereus, which caused depolarization of the cell membrane, increased the intracellular reactive oxygen species level, impaired the cell morphology, and destroyed proteins or inhibited proteins synthesis. This provides a mechanism for its bacteriostatic effect. TQ also inactivated B. cereus growth in RIF. Moreover, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction illustrated that TQ downregulated the transcription of genes related to hemolysin, non-hemolytic enterotoxin, enterotoxin, and cytotoxin K. Meanwhile, TQ displayed the ability to inhibit the germination of B. cereus spores. These findings indicate that TQ, as an effective natural antimicrobial preservative, has potential applications in controlling food contamination and foodborne diseases caused by B. cereus.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.7
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据