The change in heat inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 after entering into the viable but non-culturable state in salted fish, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Seafood Science, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran

2 Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Fisheries Department, Agriculture and Natural Resource University of Gorgan, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Many species of non-sporulating bacteria including Escherichia coli can enter into a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state under stress conditions. In this study, the change in thermal resistance of E. coli O157:H7 after entering into the VBNC state in salted silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, was investigated. E. coli O157:H7 was inoculated on the fish control group (TF) and on those fish with 30% NaCl (TF + 30% NaCl) at room temperature. Culturability of bacteria was determined using routine culture and colony counting on Sorbitol MacConkey agar. When bacteria were non-cultivable, the RT-PCR of 16S rRNA gene (including direct extraction and purification of RNA, DNase I treatment for removing DNA contamination, cDNA synthesis and electrophoresis of PCR products of cDNA) was used to detect VBNC E. coli O157:H7. Also, cultivable and VBNC E. coli O157:H7 were individually heat-treated at 55, 62 and 70 °C for 5 min. The samples were cooled and after 24 h, the thermal resistance of bacteria was determined through viability detection using RT-PCR of 16S rRNA gene. The culturability of bacteria was kept in fish treatment but they were non-cultivable in fish under 30% NaCl after 5 days. The positive expression of 16S rRNA in all studied treatments indicated the entering of E. coli O157:H7 into the VBNC state in fish treatment under 30% NaCl. Moreover, the RT-PCR of 16S rRNA gene showed that only VBNC forms of E. coli O157:H7 showed viability at 62 °C for 5 min which indicated the increased resistant of VBNC bacteria to the thermal inactivation. The ability of E. coli O157:H7 to enter into VBNC state in salted fish and also the increase of its thermal resistance suggest that VBNC E. coli O157: H7 can be considered as critical threat to public health and food safety.

Keywords


Akhondzadeh Basti, A, Misaghi, A, Salehi, TZ & Kamkar, A 2006, Bacterial pathogens in fresh, smoked and salted Iranian fish. Food Control, 17: 183-188.
Casasola-Rodríguez, B, Ruiz-Palacios, GM, Pilar, RC, Losano, L, Ignacio, MR & Orta de Velásquez, MT 2018, Detection of VBNC Vibrio cholerae by RT-Real Time PCR based on differential gene expression analysis. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 365(15): 1-8.
Castro-Rosas, J, Gómez-Aldapa, CA, Villagómez Ibarra, JR, Santos-López, EM & Rangel-Vargas, E 2017, Heat resistance of viable but non-culturable Escherichia coli cells determined by differential scanning calorimetry. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 364(19): 1-5.
Costa, RA 2013, Escherichia coli in seafood: A brief overview. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 4: 450-454.
Coutard, F, Pommepuy, M, Loaec, S & Hervio‐Heath, D 2005, mRNA detection by reverse transcription–PCR for monitoring viability and potential virulence in a pathogenic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in viable but nonculturable state. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 98: 951-961.
Greenlees, KJ, Machado, J, Bell, T & Sundlof, SF 1998, Food borne microbial pathogens of cultured aquatic species. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practic, 14: 101-112.
Juneja, V, Klein, P & Marmer, B 1998, Heat shock and thermotolerance of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in a model beef gravy system and ground beef. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 84: 677-684.
Juneja, VK 2003, Predictive model for the combined effect of temperature, sodium lactate, and sodium diacetate on the heat resistance of Listeria monocytogenes in beef. Journal of Food Protection, 66: 804-811.
Juneja, VK & Eblen, BS 1999, Predictive thermal inactivation model for Listeria monocytogenes with temperature, pH, NaCl, and sodium pyrophosphate as controlling factors. Journal of Food Protection, 62: 986-993.
Khezri, M, Rezaei, M, Rabiey, S & Garmsiri, E 2016, Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of three algae from persian gulf and caspian sea. Ecopersia, 4: 1425-1435.
Khezri, M, Rezaei, M, Mohabbati Mobarez, A & Zolfaghari, M 2019, Detection of viable but non-culturable state of Escherichia coli O157: H7 using reverse transcription PCR. Iranian Journal of Medical Microbiology, 12: 390-398.
Khezri, M, Rezaei, M, Mohabbati Mobarez, A & Zolfaghari, M 2020, Viable but non culturable state and expression of pathogenic genes of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in salted silver carp. Journal of Food Safety, 40: e12843.
Kotrola, JS & Conner, DE 1997, Heat inactivation of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in turkey meat as affected by sodium chloride, sodium lactate, polyphosphate, and fat content. Journal of Food Protection, 60: 898-902.
Li, H & Gänzle, M 2016, Some like it hot: heat resistance of Escherichia coli in food. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7(1763): 1-12.
Li, L, Mendis, N, Trigui, H, Oliver, JD & Faucher, SP 2014, The importance of the viable but non-culturable state in human bacterial pathogens. Frontiers in Microbiology, 5(258): 1-20.
Line, JE, Fain, JR, Moran, AB, Martin, LM, Lechowich, RV, Carosella, JM & Brown, WL 1991, Lethality of heat to Escherichia coli O157: H7: D-value and z-value determinations in ground beef. Journal of Food Protection, 54(10): 762-766.
Liu, Y, Gilchrist, A, Zhang, J & Li, XF 2008, Detection of viable but nonculturable Escherichia coli O157: H7 bacteria in drinking water and river water. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74(5): 1502-1507.
Logesh, A, Pravinkumar, M, Raffi, S & Kalaiselvam, M 2012, An investigation on microbial screening on salt dried marine fishes. Journal of Food Resource Science, 1(1): 15-21.
Makino, SI, Kii, T, Asakura, H, Shirahata, T, Ikeda, T, Takeshi, K & Itoh, K 2000, Does enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157: H7 enter the viable but nonculturable state in salted salmon roe? Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66: 5536-5539.
Mukherjee, A, Yoon, Y, Belk, KE, Scanga, JA, Smith, GC & Sofos, JN 2008, Thermal inactivation of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in beef treated with marination and tenderization ingredients. Journal of Food Protection, 71: 1349-1356.
Murano, EA & Pierson, MD 1992, Effect of heat shock and growth atmosphere on the heat resistance of Escherichia coli O157: H7. Journal of Food Protection, 55: 171-175.
Oliver, JD 2010, Recent findings on the viable but nonculturable state in pathogenic bacteria. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 34: 415-425.
Osaili, T, Griffis, C, Martin, E, Beard, B, Keener, A & Marcy, J 2006, Thermal inactivation studies of Escherichia coli O157: H7, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat chicken-fried beef patties. Journal of Food Protection, 69: 1080-1086.
Ramamurthy, T, Ghosh, A, Pazhani, GP & Shinoda, S 2014, Current perspectives on viable but non-culturable (VBNC) pathogenic bacteria. Frontiers in Public Health, 2(103): 1-8.
Razavilar, V, Khani, M & Motallebi, A 2013, Bacteriological study of cultured silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) in Gilan province, Iran. Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences, 12: 689-701.
Shi, C, Cui, J, Liu, X, Zhang, Y, Qin, N & Luo, Y 2017, Application of artificial neural network to predict the change of inosine monophosphate for lightly salted silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) during thermal treatment and storage. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 41: e13246.
Signoretto, C, del Mar Lleo, M & Canepari, P 2002, Modification of the peptidoglycan of Escherichia coli in the viable but nonculturable state. Current Microbiology, 44: 125-131.
Stringer, S, George, S & Peck, M 2000, Thermal inactivation of Escherichia coli O157: H7. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 88(29): 79-89.
Sue, D, Boor, KJ & Wiedmann, M 2003, σB-dependent expression patterns of compatible solute transporter genes opuCA and lmo1421 and the conjugated bile salt hydrolase gene bsh in Listeria monocytogenes. Microbiology, 149: 3247-3256.
Tan, Q, Xu, H, Chen, T, Li, P, Aguilar, ZP, Xu, D, Ming, X, Xu, F & Wei, H 2012, Differential expression of virulence and stress fitness genes during interaction between Listeria monocytogenes and Bifidobacterium longum. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 76: 699-704.
Tavakoli, H, Soltani, M & Bahonar, A 2012, Isolation of some human pathogens from fresh and smoked shad. Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences, 11: 424-429.
Yam, B, Morteza, K, Sahar, A & Maryam, S 2015, Microbial quality of salted dried fish sold near the Caspian Sea. Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, 2: 61-65.
Zhao, X, Zhong, J, Wei, C, Lin, CW & Ding, T 2017, Current perspectives on viable but non-culturable state in foodborne pathogens. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8(580): 1-16.
Zolfaghari, M, Rezaei, M, Mohabbati Mobarez, A, Forozandeh Moghaddam, M, Hosseini, H & Khezri, M 2020, Virulence genes expression in viable but non-culturable state of Listeria monocytogenes in fish meat. Food Science and Technology International, 26: 205-12.