Abstract
Modified antimicrobial and antifouling materials and surfaces can be used to limit the propagation of microorganisms on various surfaces and minimise the occurrence of infection, transfer, and spoilage. Increased demand for ‘green’ solutions for material treatment has pushed the focus towards to naturally produced antimicrobials. Tyrocidines, cyclo-decapeptides naturally produced by a soil bacterium Brevibacillus parabrevis, have a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, filamentous fungi, and yeasts. Continual losses in tyrocidine production highlighted the possible association of peptides to surfaces. It was found in this study that tyrocidines readily associates with many materials, with a selectivity towards polysaccharide-type materials, such as cellulose. Peptide-treated cellulose was found to remain active after exposure to a broad pH range, various temperatures, salt solutions, water washes, and organic solvents, with the sterilising activity only affected by 1% SDS and 70% acetonitrile. Furthermore, a comparison to other antimicrobial peptides showed the association between tyrocidines and cellulose to be unique in terms of antimicrobial activity. The robust association between the tyrocidines and various materials holds great promise in applications focused on preventing surface contamination and creating self-sterilising materials.
Highlights
Surface contamination with microorganisms affects multiple industries throughout the production and supply chain
The laboratory materials (Figure 1A) had some effect on the metabolic activity or viability of L. monocytogenes; the inhibition caused by untreated cellulose was more pronounced than that of the other materials
It is unclear why some materials are more antagonistic towards L. monocytogenes, especially since there is limited insight in the production of these materials
Summary
Surface contamination with microorganisms affects multiple industries throughout the production and supply chain. Persistent microbial contamination results in product losses, and inadequate treatments can promote resistance in plant and human pathogens with increased health risks, which, in totality, can put a financial strain on any industry. It is, crucial to limit surface microbial contamination as much as possible as this leads to secondary transfer and spread of microbial pathogens. As an example: the fruit industry faces a list of post-harvest problems, such as bacterial and fungal infections, spoilage, drying/shrivelling, and moisture loss Most of these concerns are addressed with the use of edible coating for fruits [1,2,3,4]. Other antimicrobial peptides are being considered for similar applications [28]
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