Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is often associated with processed food as it can form biofilms that represent a source of contamination at all stages of the manufacturing chain. The control and prevention of biofilms in food-processing plants are of utmost importance. This study explores the efficacy of prospect molecules for counteracting bacterial mechanisms leading to biofilm formation. The compounds included the phytomolecule tomatidine, zinc chloride (ZnCl2), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and a more complexed mixture of bacterial compounds from coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS exoproducts). Significant inhibition of L. monocytogenes biofilm formation was evidenced using a microfluidic system and confocal microscopic analyses (p < 0.001). Active molecules were effective at an early stage of biofilm development (≥50% of inhibition) but failed to disperse mature biofilms of L. monocytogenes. According to our findings, prevention of surface attachment was associated with a disruption of bacterial motility. Indeed, agar cell motility assays demonstrated the effectiveness of these molecules. Overall, results highlighted the critical role of motility in biofilm formation and allow to consider flagellum-mediated motility as a promising molecular target in control strategies against L. monocytogenes in food processing environments.
Highlights
Numerous epidemics of listeriosis caused by Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes), a Grampositive foodborne pathogen, have occurred in industrialized countries (Hamon et al, 2006; Sofos and Geornaras, 2010)
In this study we investigated the efficacy of compounds from different origins to affect biofilm formation of L. monocytogenes strains isolated from pork slaughterhouses after sanitation procedures
The first step of this study consisted in the screening of the active molecules against L. monocytogenes (Figure 1)
Summary
Numerous epidemics of listeriosis caused by Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes), a Grampositive foodborne pathogen, have occurred in industrialized countries (Hamon et al, 2006; Sofos and Geornaras, 2010). L. monocytogenes is able to adapt and survive to the most constraining conditions such as low temperatures, UV radiation, low pH, and high osmolarity (Chaturongakul et al, 2008) It can form biofilms at all stages of the food-processing chain (Evans and Redmond, 2014; Cherifi et al, 2017). Biofilms have been found on surfaces made of polystyrene, glass, and stainless steel (Cherifi et al, 2017; Reis-Teixeira et al, 2017) This ability may allow it to circumvent current hygienic practices, especially where less accessible niches remain, leading to persistent contamination of the manufactured food products (Tauxe, 2002; Chang et al, 2012)
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