The activity of a vapor-phase disinfectant is usually expressed in terms of the atmospheric relative humidity (RH). This study shows that, in beta-propiolactone (BPL) vapor disinfection, the important factor is really the moisture content and location of water in the cell, and not necessarily the atmospheric RH. Previous studies revealed that only about 50% of the bacterial spores equilibrated ...

Bacterial spores have special significance in foods because they are much more resistant to physical and chemical antimicrobial treatment. Nowadays, there is interest in using natural products such as plant extract for food preservation. In this study, 26 of tropical medicinal plants and spices were screened for their sporicidal activity against the spores of Bacillus cereus. The spores of B. c...

The enzyme CwlJ is involved in the depolymerization of cortex peptidoglycan during germination of spores of Bacillus subtilis. CwlJ with a C-terminal His tag was functional and was extracted from spores by procedures that remove spore coat proteins. However, this CwlJ was not extracted from disrupted spores by dilute buffer, high salt concentrations, Triton X-100, Ca(2+)-dipicolinic acid, dithi...

Endospores (also referred to as bacterial spores) are bacterial structures formed by several bacterial species of the phylum Firmicutes. Spores form as a response to environmental stress. These structures exhibit remarkable resistance to harsh environmental conditions such as exposure to heat, desiccation, and chemical oxidants. The spores include several layers of protein and peptidoglycan tha...

The method by which sodium nitrite may act to prevent germination or outgrowth, or both, of heat-injured spores in canned cured meats was investigated by using Clostridium perfringens spores. Four possible mechanisms were tested: (i) prevention of germination of the heat-injured spores, (ii) prior combination with a component in a complex medium to prevent germination of heat-injured spores, (i...

The relative virulence was determined for 14 species of aspergilli, by inoculating normal mice intravenously with graded doses of spores. Eleven were found to possess some degree of virulence, whereas three others were avirulent. Members of the Aspergillus flavus group were the only species that consistently killed mice with doses as low as 10(4) viable spores. When the in vivo fate of spores w...

The thermal inactivation characteristics of Bacillus stearothermophilus (1518) spores and putrefactive anaerobe (PA) 3679 (NCA) spores suspended in skim milk were determined after treatment in pilot-plant ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) processing equipment. Temperature-survivor curves were constructed from survival data to emphasize the critical nature of temperature control in process evaluation....

Bacterial spores are in cryptobiosis during the dormant period, which can change vegetative cells upon exposure to favorable conditions and eventually cause serious illness through ingestion of spore-contaminated food (Leuschner et al., 1999; Reissbrodt et al., 2002; Roszak and Colwell, 1987). The most common spore-forming bacteria causing foodborne disease are aerobic Bacillus spp. and anaerob...

Spores of a Bacillus subtilis strain with a gerD deletion mutation (Delta gerD) responded much slower than wild-type spores to nutrient germinants, although they did ultimately germinate, outgrow, and form colonies. Spores lacking GerD and nutrient germinant receptors also germinated slowly with nutrients, as did Delta gerD spores in which nutrient receptors were overexpressed. The germination ...

Salmonellosis is a major public health problem throughout the world. Thus, there is a huge need for diversified control strategies for Salmonella infections. In this work, we have assessed the potential use of Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) spores for the expression of a major protective antigen of Salmonella serovar Pullorum, OmpC. The expression of OmpC on the surface of spores was determine...