Analysis of the bacterial surface ripening flora of German and French smeared cheeses with respect to their anti-listerial potential

Carnio, Markus C.; Eppert, Ilka; Scherer, Siegfried

doi:10.1016/s0168-1605(99)00016-1

Cited by 53 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…3). The high incidence of Listeria on red-smear cheeses (30) indicates that many of the industrial surface consortia exhibit no significant antilisterial activity or, alternatively, are contaminated by resistant Listeria strains (11). In our study, the contaminating L. monocytogenes strain had been propagated under optimal conditions and the contamination was performed with the first smearing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To increase the safety of these products, several attempts to investigate and use the antilisterial activity of red-smear ripening floras have been carried out. Often, single bacterial strains were isolated from red-smear cheese surface floras and evaluated for their antilisterial activity in vitro (11,31,35). Furthermore, in situ evaluation of the antilisterial activity of complex bacterial surface floras and single strains derived from red-smear cheeses has been performed (9,12,16).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the pH is about 6.0, a salt-tolerant, usually very complex and undefined bacterial consortium begins to develop (8,13,29) and eventually covers the entire surface of the cheese. Despite their complex and undefined composition, analysis of bacterial surface-ripening floras of 19 different smeared cheeses yielded no indication that nonculturable bacteria contribute significantly to these floras (11). Bacterial surface floras consist mainly of a large number of coryneform species (3,4,14,33,37).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Temporal Stability and Biodiversity of Two Complex Antilisterial Cheese-Ripening Microbial Consortia

Maoz

Mayr

Scherer

2003

Appl Environ Microbiol

Self Cite

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The temporal stability and diversity of bacterial species composition as well as the antilisterial potential of two different, complex, and undefined microbial consortia from red-smear soft cheeses were investigated. Samples were collected twice, at 6-month intervals, from each of two food producers, and a total of 400 bacterial isolates were identified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis. Coryneform bacteria represented the majority of the isolates, with certain species being predominant. In addition, Marinolactobacillus psychrotolerans, Halomonas venusta, Halomonas variabilis, Halomonas sp. (10 6 to 10 7 CFU per g of smear), and an unknown, gram-positive bacterium (10 7 to 10 8 CFU per g of smear) are described for the first time in such a consortium. The species composition of one consortium was quite stable over 6 months, but the other consortium revealed less diversity of coryneform species as well as less stability. While the first consortium had a stable, extraordinarily high antilisterial potential in situ, the antilisterial activity of the second consortium was lower and decreased with time. The cause for the antilisterial activity of the two consortia remained unknown but is not due to the secretion of soluble, inhibitory substances by the individual components of the consortium. Our data indicate that the stability over time and a potential antilisterial activity are individual characteristics of the ripening consortia which can be monitored and used for safe food production without artificial preservatives.Traditional production of various foodstuffs such as kefir, sourdough, and red-smear cheeses includes the transfer of complex undefined microbial consortia from mature products to freshly prepared matrices. As of now it is not known whether the repeated transfer to fresh substrates, or their indigenous microflora, influences the composition of the respective consortia over time. In the case of red-smear cheeses, the microbial succession during surface ripening starts with the growth of yeasts, which metabolize the lactic acid present and raise the pH on the cheese surface from about 5.0 to about 6.0. When the pH is about 6.0, a salt-tolerant, usually very complex and undefined bacterial consortium begins to develop (8,13,29) and eventually covers the entire surface of the cheese. Despite their complex and undefined composition, analysis of bacterial surface-ripening floras of 19 different smeared cheeses yielded no indication that nonculturable bacteria contribute significantly to these floras (11). Bacterial surface floras consist mainly of a large number of coryneform species (3,4,14,33,37). Identification of coryneform bacteria usually is performed on the basis of physiological, phenotypic, and biochemical characteristics (18,19,24,32,33). These methods, however, do not always provide satisfactory results (5, 27), and they are both too laborious and too time-consuming to be performed on a routine basis. In contrast, molecular methods such as analysi...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Temporal Stability and Biodiversity of Two Complex Antilisterial Cheese-Ripening Microbial Consortia

Maoz

Mayr

Scherer

2003

Appl Environ Microbiol

Self Cite

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Isolate R-17892t2 T (=DSM 18061 T =LMG 22410 T ) is the type strain of Agrococcus casei sp. nov.The complex consortium of micro-organisms found on the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses includes major populations of coryneform bacteria (catalase-positive irregular rods and cocci), staphylococci (catalase-positive cocci) and yeasts (Valdés-Stauber et al, 1997;Carnio et al, 1999;Bockelmann & Hoppe-Seyler, 2001). Until recently, cheese coryneform bacteria were assigned to groups based on a few subjectively weighted morphological and staining properties (Piton-Malleret & Gorrieri, 1992;Eliskases-Lechner & Ginzinger, 1995).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Agrococcus casei sp. nov., isolated from the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses

Bora

Vancanneyt

Gelsomino

et al. 2007

International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Seven Gram-positive, coryneform bacteria with virtually identical whole-organism protein patterns were isolated from the surface of smear-ripened cheeses. Representatives of these strains were the subject of a polyphasic study designed to establish their taxonomic status. The organisms formed a distinct branch in the Microbacteriaceae 16S rRNA gene tree and were most closely related to members of the genus Agrococcus, sharing sequence similarities of 95.4-98.7 %. The chemotaxonomic profiles of the strains were consistent with their classification in the genus Agrococcus. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data show that the isolates should be classified in the genus Agrococcus as representatives of a novel species. The name Agrococcus casei sp. nov. is proposed for this taxon. Isolate R-17892t2 T (=DSM 18061 T =LMG 22410 T ) is the type strain of Agrococcus casei sp. nov.The complex consortium of micro-organisms found on the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses includes major populations of coryneform bacteria (catalase-positive irregular rods and cocci), staphylococci (catalase-positive cocci) and yeasts (Valdés-Stauber et al., 1997;Carnio et al., 1999;Bockelmann & Hoppe-Seyler, 2001). Until recently, cheese coryneform bacteria were assigned to groups based on a few subjectively weighted morphological and staining properties (Piton-Malleret & Gorrieri, 1992;Eliskases-Lechner & Ginzinger, 1995). Such studies have been replaced by polyphasic taxonomic investigations, which show that the coryneform component of smear-ripened cheeses contains members of novel taxa, as exemplified by the isolation and description of Corynebacterium casei and Microbacterium gubbeenense from the surface of Gubbeen cheese (Brennan et al., 2001a(Brennan et al., , b, 2002 and Arthrobacter arilaitensis and Arthrobacter bergerei from diverse French smear-ripened cheeses (Irlinger et al., 2005). The present study was designed to determine the taxonomic status of a homogeneous group of coryneform bacteria isolated from smear-ripened cheeses and presumptively assigned to the genus Agrococcus.The genus Agrococcus was proposed by Groth et al. (1996) for two Gram-positive, coryneform bacteria that could be distinguished from members of other genera classified in the family Microbacteriaceae using genotypic and phenotypic criteria. The genus currently contains four species with validly described names: Agrococcus baldri Zlamala et al. The phylogenetic positions of the four representative cheese isolates were determined by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Biomass from growth in brain-heart infusion broth (BHI; Difco) for 5 days at 30 uC was checked for purity, harvested by centrifugation, washed in NaCl/EDTA buffer (0.1 M EDTA, 0.1 M NaCl, pH 8.0) and stored at 220 u C until required. Genomic DNA was extracted as described by Sambrook & Russell (2001) and used as a template for PCR amplification and sequencing following the procedure of Kim et al. (1998). The resultant almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequences (1466-1470 nt) were manually aligned ...

show abstract

“…In order to develop potential countermeasures against Listeria in red smear cheese, antilisterial actions exerted by red smear cheese-ripening bacteria have been studied in some detail (8,9,12,19,28,32,33). In some cases, the antilisterial effect was assigned to bacteriocins (20,33) or bacteriocin-like substances (5,28).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by Food-Borne Yeasts

Goerges

Aigner

Silakowski

et al. 2006

Appl Environ Microbiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many bacteria are known to inhibit food pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, by secreting a variety of bactericidal and bacteriostatic substances. In sharp contrast, it is unknown whether yeast has an inhibitory potential for the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food. A total of 404 yeasts were screened for inhibitory activity against five Listeria monocytogenes strains. Three hundred and four of these yeasts were isolated from smearripened cheeses. Most of the yeasts were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Using an agar-membrane screening assay, a fraction of approximately 4% of the 304 red smear cheese isolates clearly inhibited growth of L. monocytogenes. Furthermore, 14 out of these 304 cheese yeasts were cocultivated with L. monocytogenes WSLC 1364 on solid medium to test the antilisterial activity of yeast in direct cell contact with Listeria. All yeasts inhibited L. monocytogenes to a low degree, which is most probably due to competition for nutrients. However, one Candida intermedia strain was able to reduce the listerial cell count by 4 log units. Another four yeasts, assigned to C. intermedia (three strains) and Kluyveromyces marxianus (one strain), repressed growth of L. monocytogenes by 3 log units. Inhibition of L. monocytogenes was clearly pronounced in the cocultivation assay, which simulates the conditions and contamination rates present on smear cheese surfaces. We found no evidence that the unknown inhibitory molecule is able to diffuse through soft agar.

show abstract

Analysis of the bacterial surface ripening flora of German and French smeared cheeses with respect to their anti-listerial potential

Cited by 53 publications

References 23 publications

Temporal Stability and Biodiversity of Two Complex Antilisterial Cheese-Ripening Microbial Consortia

Temporal Stability and Biodiversity of Two Complex Antilisterial Cheese-Ripening Microbial Consortia

Agrococcus casei sp. nov., isolated from the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses

Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by Food-Borne Yeasts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About