Abstract
In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are gaining remarkable interest in their application in agriculture and food industry. Thanks to the bacteria cell membrane permeabilization capability of AMPs, treatment of AMP potentially allows the entry of a secondary antimicrobial agent into the bacterial cells. The fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) assay showed the synergy of antibacterial effect of AMPs in combination with citric acid (CA) with ΣFICI values of 0.3 for IDR-1018 and 0.4 for 1018-K6 on Salmonella enterica. Under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), structural damages of the Salmonella cells were observed after both treatment of 1018-K6 and CA but in different manners. When 1018-K6 and CA were used in combination, the cells demonstrated more pronounced deformation than the individual treatment. This combination demonstrated great potentials when applied onto fresh produce. After 120 min at room temperature, 2.5 μmol L−1 1018-K6 and 0.1% CA inactivated Salmonella on the blueberries from 4.14 ± 0.05 log CFU/berry to 2.26 ± 0.39 log CFU/berry. After 1 day storage at 4 °C, the Salmonella load on the treated berries further decreased to 1.76 ± 0.39 log CFU/berry, whereas from day 2 onwards, the Salmonella was below the enumeration limit (1.40 log CFU/berry). Last, this strategy of enhancing the antibacterial activity of AMPs is also applicable to other bacteria (as tested on Escherichia coli) and other secondary antimicrobial agents (as tested on rose bengal).
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