Relationship between Size of Leaked Nucleic Acid of Escherichia coli and Survival Ratio by High Electric Field Pulse Application

Abstract

We have been studying the sterilization of bacteria by high electric field pulse. In this paper, we reported the relationship between the size of leaked nucleic acid of Escherichia coli (JM103) and the survival ratio by high electric field pulse application. The sample was NaCl aqueous solution contained E. coli. High electric field pulse (6 kV/mm ~ 10 kV/mm) was applied to the sample at room temperature. As results, at pulse width 600 ns, we could not detect the leakage nucleic acid. At pulse width 60 µs, we could observe the leakage of 2 ~ 3 kbp by 5 kV/mm or more pulse application, and that of 10 kbp by 8 kV/mm or more. At pulse width 120 µs, we could observe the leakage of 2 ~ 3 kbp by 8 kV/mm.