Abstract
Due to public apprehension regarding the use of chemical preservatives to prevent food spoilage and food-borne diseases, it is imperative to identify natural alternatives such as antimicrobial peptides as a potential solution. The study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the antimicrobial peptide RI12 (K3W) against Listeria monocytogenes. RI12 (K3W) exhibited potent antimicrobial properties, with a minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of 16 µM and 32 µM, respectively. The time-kill assay revealed a consistent reduction in bacterial viability at 8, 16, and 24 h of study. Cytotoxicity testing on mammalian cells demonstrated no apparent change in morphology or cell count. Investigating how well it worked in a food matrix to replicate real-world conditions showed a significant decrease in the bacterial count. The study underscores the potential of RI12 (K3W) as a safe and effective antimicrobial against L. monocytogenes that might also serve as an alternative to chemical preservatives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Acar MS, Bulut ZB, Ateş A, Nami B, Koçak N, Yıldız B (2015) Titanium dioxide nanoparticles induce cytotoxicity and reduce mitotic index in human amniotic fluid-derived cells. Hum Exp Toxicol 34(1):74–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0960327114530742
Chen X, Zhang L, Wu Y, Wang L, Ma C, Xi X, Bininda-Emonds OR, Shaw C, Chen T, Zhou M (2018) Evaluation of the bioactivity of a mastoparan peptide from wasp venom and of its analogues designed through targeted engineering. Int J Biol Sci 14(6):599–607. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.23419
Choyam S, Jain PM, Kammara R (2021) Characterization of a potent new-generation antimicrobial peptide of Bacillus. Front Microbiol 12:710741. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.710741
Heymich ML, Srirangan S, Pischetsrieder M (2021) Stability and activity of the antimicrobial peptide Leg1 in solution and on meat and its optimized generation from chickpea storage protein. Foods 10(6):1192. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10061192
Jordan K, Hunt K, Lourenco A, Pennone V (2018) Listeria monocytogenes in the food processing environment. Curr Clin Microbiol Rep 5:106–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40588-018-0090-1
Lei J, Sun L, Huang S, Zhu C, Li P, He J, Mackey V, Coy DH, He Q (2019) The antimicrobial peptides and their potential clinical applications. Am J Transl Res 11:3919–3931
Liu Y, Sameen DE, Ahmed S, Dai J, Qin W (2021) Antimicrobial peptides and their application in food packaging. Trends Food Sci Technol 112:471–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2021.04.019
Lv Y, Wang J, Gao H, Wang Z, Dong N, Ma Q, Shan A (2014) Antimicrobial properties and membrane-active mechanism of a potential α-helical antimicrobial derived from cathelicidin PMAP-36. PLoS ONE 9:e86364. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086364
Lyu Y, Yang Y, Lyu X, Dong N, Shan A (2016) Antimicrobial activity, improved cell selectivity and mode of action of short PMAP-36-derived peptides against bacteria and Candida. Sci Rep 6(1):27258. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27258
Lyu Y, Yang C, Chen T, Shang L, Yang Y, Li J, Shan A, Xiang W, Cheng B, Zhang L (2020) Characterization of an antibacterial dodecapeptide from pig as a potential food preservative and its antibacterial mechanism. Food Funct 11:4090–40102. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0FO00380H
Pérez-Rodríguez F, Valero A, Carrasco E, García RM, Zurera G (2008) Understanding and modelling bacterial transfer to foods: a review. Trends Food Sci Technol 19(3):131–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2007.08.003
Pires SM, Desta BN, Mughini-Gras L, Mmbaga BT, Fayemi OE, Salvador EM, Gobena T, Majowicz SE, Hald T, Hoejskov PS, Minato Y (2021) Burden of foodborne diseases: think global, act local. Curr Opin Food Sci 39:152–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2021.01.006
Rai M, Pandit R, Gaikwad S, Kovics G (2016) Antimicrobial peptides as natural bio-preservative to enhance the shelf-life of food. J Food Sci Technol 53:3381–3394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-016-2318-5
Sharma S (2015) Food preservatives and their harmful effects. Int J Sci Res Publ 5:1–2
Shen C, Lin Y, Mohammadi TN, Masuda Y, Honjoh KI, Miyamoto T (2022) Characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides designed on the basis of amino acid sequence of peptides from egg white hydrolysate. Int J Food Microbiol 378:109802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2022.110050
Silva MM, Lidon F (2016) Food preservatives–an overview on applications and side effects. Emir J Food Agric 28:366–373. https://doi.org/10.9755/ejfa.2016-04-351
Singh R, Sharma R, Mal G, Varshney R (2022) A comparative analysis of saponin-enriched fraction from Silene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke, Sapindus mukorossi (Gaertn) and Chlorophytum borivilianum (Santapau and Fernandes): an in vitro hemolytic and cytotoxicity evaluation. Anim Biotechnol 133:193–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2020.1775627
Teixeira V, Feio MJ, Bastos M (2012) Role of lipids in the interaction of antimicrobial peptides with membranes. Prog Lipid Res 51(2):149–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plipres.2011.12.005
Wang Y, Qin Y, Zhang Y, Wu R, Li P (2019) Antibacterial mechanism of plantaricin LPL-1, a novel class IIa bacteriocin against Listeria monocytogenes. Food Control 97:87–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2018.10.025
Wang C, Hong T, Cui P, Wang J, Xia J (2021) Antimicrobial peptides towards clinical application: delivery and formulation. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 175:113818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2021.05.028
World Health Organization (2015) WHO estimates of the global burden of food-borne diseases: food-borne disease burden epidemiology reference group 2007–2015. World Health Organization.
Zhang LJ, Sen GL, Ward NL, Johnston A, Chun K, Chen Y, Adase C, Sanford JA, Gao N, Chensee M, Sato E (2016) Antimicrobial peptide LL37 and MAVS signaling drive interferon-β production by epidermal keratinocytes during skin injury. Immunity 45:119–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2016.06.021
Zou W, Zhang Y, Zhou M, Chen X, Ma C, Wang T, Jiang Y, Chen T, Shaw C, Wang L (2022) Exploring the active core of a novel antimicrobial peptide, palustrin-2LTb, from the Kuatun frog, Hylarana latouchii, using a bioinformatics-directed approach. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 20:6192–6205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2022.11.016
Acknowledgements
We extend our gratitude to the Dean, College of Animal Biotechnology, the Dean Postgraduate Studies, and the Director of Research, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University for providing the essential facilities throughout this endeavor. We thank the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for providing fellowship to Ms Bhavna for MSc. We also thank Dr Manu M. for his guidance in cell culture experiments.
Funding
The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
BJ: investigation, methodology, writing original draft. SS: conceptualization, supervision, manuscript review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Communicated by Gharieb El-Sayyad.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Jha, B., Singh, S. Investigating antimicrobial peptide RI12 (K3W) as an effective bio-preservative against Listeria monocytogenes: a major foodborne pathogen. Arch Microbiol 205, 367 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03707-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03707-5