Quorum Sensing in the Context of Food Microbiology

Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>Food spoilage may be defined as a process that renders a product undesirable or unacceptable for consumption and is the outcome of the biochemical activity of a microbial community that eventually dominates according to the prevailing ecological determinants. Although limited information are reported, this activity has been attributed to quorum sensing (QS). Consequently, the potential role of cell-to-cell communication in food spoilage and food safety should be more extensively elucidated. Such information would be helpful in designing approaches for manipulating these communication systems, thereby reducing or preventing, for instance, spoilage reactions or even controlling the expression of virulence factors. Due to the many reports in the literature on the fundamental features of QS, e.g., chemistry and definitions of QS compounds, in this minireview, we only allude to the types and chemistry of QS signaling molecules<jats:italic>per se</jats:italic>and to the (bioassay-based) methods of their detection and quantification, avoiding extensive documentation. Conversely, we attempt to provide insights into (i) the role of QS in food spoilage, (ii) the factors that may quench the activity of QS in foods and review the potential QS inhibitors that might “mislead” the bacterial coordination of spoilage activities and thus may be used as biopreservatives, and (iii) the future experimental approaches that need to be undertaken in order to explore the “gray” or “black” areas of QS, increase our understanding of how QS affects microbial behavior in foods, and assist in finding answers as to how we can exploit QS for the benefit of food preservation and food safety.</jats:p>

Búsqueda de bacterias marinas como fuente de inhibidores de quorum sensing (iqs): primer estudio químico de Oceanobacillus profundus (RKHC-62B)

“…La aparición de cepas de bacterias resistentes al uso de antibióticos, como consecuencia del uso indiscriminado de estos, representa un enorme reto para industrias como la agropecuaria y la industria médica, pues las consecuencias sobre la salud pueden ser muy graves (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). El quorum sensing (QS) es un mecanismo en el cual las bacterias regulan o sincronizan cambios en su expresión genética en función de su densidad poblacional, como por ejemplo la producción de antibióticos, toxinas, pigmentos, exopolisacáridos (formación de biopé-liculas), motilidad y otros factores de virulencia (6).…”

Stochasticity in Colonial Growth Dynamics of Individual Bacterial Cells

“…This can be attributed to the variability in the generation time of single cells, which decreases with generations ( Fig. 2), as well as to potential differences in the so-called "community effect" including the colony's microenvironmental factors such as pH (19,20) and cell-to-cell communication (quorum sensing) (17,18,33).…”

Anti-quorum sensing activity of phenolic extract from Eugenia brasiliensis (Brazilian cherry)

“…Through the quorum sensing system bacteria are capable of performing tasks as a group such as migration to more favorable environments, biofilm formation, virulence gene expression, bacteriocin and antibiotic production, bioluminescence, pigment production, among others (Martins et al, 2014;Skandamis & Nychas, 2012). The system has also been shown to regulate bacterial behaviors in food ecosystems highlighting the importance of understanding its control in order to improve food safety and quality (Bai & Rai, 2011;Pinto et al, 2007;Skandamis & Nychas, 2012).…”

“…The system has also been shown to regulate bacterial behaviors in food ecosystems highlighting the importance of understanding its control in order to improve food safety and quality (Bai & Rai, 2011;Pinto et al, 2007;Skandamis & Nychas, 2012).…”