Antibiofilm Efficacy of Peptide 1018 against Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia coli on Equipment Surfaces

• Published in: Journal of food protection 2019-11, Vol.82 (11), p.1837-1843
• Main Authors: Yin, Hsin-Bai, Boomer, Ashley, Chen, Chi-Hung, Patel, Jitendra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - pharmacology; Bacteria; Biofilms; Biofilms - drug effects; Bioreactors; Chlorine; Colony Count, Microbial; Defense; Disease control; E coli; Effectiveness; Escherichia coli; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Food contamination & poisoning; Food Industry - methods; Food Microbiology; Food processing; Food processing industry; Food products; Food safety; Investigations; Listeria; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeria monocytogenes - drug effects; Pathogens; Peptides; Polycarbonate; Populations; Prevention; Reactors; Salmonella; Scraping; Selective media; Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli - drug effects; Stainless Steel; Stainless steels; Studies; Wound healing
• ISSN: 0362-028X; 1944-9097
• DOI: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-19-168

and Shiga toxigenic (STEC) are important foodborne bacterial pathogens that can form biofilms on equipment surfaces at food processing facilities. Pathogens in biofilms are resistant to conventional antimicrobials and require higher antimicrobial concentrations to be inactivated. In this study, the efficacy of a synthetic innate defense regulator peptide 1018 (peptide 1018) for inactivating and STEC (O26, O111, O145, O157) biofilms on stainless steel and polycarbonate surfaces was investigated. Stainless steel and polycarbonate coupons (12 mm in diameter) were used in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention biofilm reactor containing 400 mL of 10% tryptic soy broth (TSB) that had been inoculated with an individual strain of or STEC to obtain 6 log CFU/mL populations. The reactor was set with a constant flow rate at 50 mL/h of 10% TSB for 48 h. After 48 h, coupons were treated with peptide 1018 at 0, 10, 20, or 50 μg/mL in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 24 h. Surviving bacterial populations were determined by scraping off the coupons and spiral plating on selective media. Significantly higher levels of pathogens in biofilms formed by certain bacterial strains, including F6854, O157:H7 RM4407 and NADC5713, and non-O157 NADC3629, were recovered on polycarbonate surfaces than on stainless steel. Antibiofilm efficacy of peptide 1018 against pathogens was concentration-dependent and varied with the type of pathogen and material surfaces. Peptide 1018 at 50 μg/mL significantly inactivated all tested bacterial biofilms on both surfaces compared with the PBS control ( < 0.05). was the bacterium most sensitive to peptide 1018; on stainless steel surfaces treated with 50 μg/mL peptide 1018, there was a 3.7- to 4.6-log CFU/cm reduction in populations compared with a 1.0- to 3.5-log CFU/cm reduction of STEC. Results suggest that peptide 1018 may be used to inactivate and STEC biofilms on equipment surfaces.