Bacillus spores: a review of their properties and inactivation processing technologies

Abstract

Many factors determine the resistance properties of a Bacillus spore to heat, chemical and physical processing, including thick proteinaceous coats, peptidoglycan cortex and low water content, high levels of dipicolinic acid (DPA), and divalent cations in the spore core. Recently, attention has been focused on non-thermal inactivation methods based on high pressure, ultrasonic, high voltage electric fields and cold plasmas for inactivating Bacillus spores associated with deterioration in quality and safety. The important chemical sporicides are glutaraldehyde, chorine-releasing agents, peroxygens, and ethylene oxide. Some food-grade antimicrobial agents exhibit sporostatic and sporicidal activities, such as protamine, polylysine, sodium lactate, essential oils. Surfactants with hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties have been reported to have inactivation activity against spores. The combined treatment of physical and chemical treatment such as heating, UHP (ultra high pressure), PEF (pulsed electric field), UV (ultraviolet), IPL (intense pulsed light) and natural antimicrobial agents can act synergistically and effectively to kill Bacillus spores in the food industry.

UHPLC-DAD Characterization of Origanum vulgare L. from Atacama Desert Andean Region and Antioxidant, Antibacterial and Enzyme Inhibition Activities

“…It was not possible to determine MBC for Bacillus subtilis due to its ability to produce spores, which would allow surviving the antibacterial activity of O. vulgare L. extracts. Spores are resistance structures formed by some bacterial genera that allow them to survive under different extreme conditions and chemical treatments [ 30 ]. However, it was not possible to detect antibacterial activity using the paper disk diffusion method (data not showed), probably due to the inaccuracy and lower sensitivity of this methodology compared to MIC and MBC method [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Fungal Based Biopolymer Composites for Construction Materials

“…If the damages of spore’s structure were too strong affecting the core, the germination process is stopped [ 32 ]. The mechanism resistance to heat is a multicomponent one, attributed mainly to bacterial spores with low level of water [ 33 ]. Similar survival capacity of bacterial spores has been reported [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Combining Celery Oleoresin, Limonene and Rhamnolipid as New Strategy to Control Endospore-Forming Bacillus cereus

“…Although the exact mechanisms involved in spore inhibition are unknown, it is a consensus that the lipophilic nature of chemical compounds influences their activity. Since the endospore surface is hydrophobic, molecules with this character might easily interact with several targets present in the inner/outer coats, cortex, membrane and core [ 44 ].…”