Formation, Degradation, and Detoxification of Putrescine by Foodborne Bacteria: A Review

Abstract

Biogenic amines (BAs) represent a considerable toxicological risk in some food products. Putrescine is one of the most common BAs in food. Its increased occurrence in food may lead to alimentary poisoning, due to enhancement of the toxic effects of other BAs, and also to lower quality of food, this amine is potentially carcinogenic. Increased occurrence of putrescine in food is mainly due to the bacterial metabolism of the Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacteria present. The bacterial metabolism of putrescine is very specific due to its complexity (in comparison with the metabolism of other BAs). There are 3 distinct known pathways leading toward the formation of putrescine, in some splices involving up to 6 different enzymes. The existence of more metabolic pathways and the possibility of their simultaneous use by different bacteria complicate the specification of the best conditions for food production and storage, which could lead to a lower content of putrescine. This review provides a summary of the existing knowledge about putrescine production and detection (mainly detection of specific genes for different enzymes using polymerase chain reaction) in both starter and contaminating microorganisms. Thus, this comprehensive review gives a useful overview for further research.

Biogenic amine production by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains in the model system of Dutch-type cheese

“…cremoris CCDM 824 and CCDM 946 these values after the incubation were 165.5 ± 0.3 mg/L and 150.5 ± 0.6 mg/L, respectively (P < 0.05). Higher concentrations of biogenic amines detected in the bulk starter with the strains observed were probably caused by decarboxylation of the corresponding free amino acids giving rise to biogenic amines (Adams & Nout, 2001;Alewijn, 2006;Curtin & McSweeney, 2004;McSweeney, 2004;Wunderlichová et al, 2014). The bulk starters (50 mL) contained approximately 8 mg (in 50 mL) of biogenic amines after the incubation and before the inoculation of the cheese milk (total biogenic amine content approximately 0.4 mg/L of the cheese milk).…”

“…Subsequently, agmatine is converted to putrescine via the agmatine deiminase pathway (with N-carbamoyl putrescine as an intermediate). (Wunderlichová, Buň ková, Koutný , Jančová, & Buň ka, 2014). Tyrosine is a precursor for the formation of tyramine (Fiechter, Sivec, & Mayer, 2013;Ladero et al, 2012).…”

“…Moreover, the use of the agmatine deiminase pathway by the selected strains is more likely. No lactic acid bacteria carrying another pathway have been isolated from cheese (Wunderlichová et al, 2014). A very low concentration of arginine can also be caused by the fact that arginine is used as an energy source due to its conversion into ammonia, ornithine (with citrulline as an intermediate), carbon dioxide and adenosine triphosphate (Christensen, Dudley, Pederson, & Steel, 1999).…”

Resolution of quaternary mixtures of cadaverine, histamine, putrescine and tyramine by the square wave voltammetry and partial least squares method

“…Numerous authors have dealt with the detection of BAs content in different types of foodstuffs, under different conditions of treatment and storage, by means of HPLC methods, thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis [7][8][9][10]. The above-cited techniques require in most cases tedious pre-treatment and derivatization steps of the sample, as well as expensive and complex instrumentation.…”

Subcutaneous Toxicity of Agmatine in Rats

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] It is well-known that fermented foods contain high levels of polyamines such as cheese, fermented fish and meat, wine, beer, and fermented vegetables and some non-fermented foods such as fish, meat, fruits, juices, and vegetables have a considerable amount of polyamines. 17 Some bioamines are also considered as an indicator of microbial contamination in foods.…”