Histamine Production Behaviors of a Psychrotolerant Histamine-Producer, Morganella psychrotolerans, in Various Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Histamine food poisoning is a major safety concern related to seafood consumption worldwide.Morganella psychrotolerans is a novel psychrotolerant histamine-producer. In this study, the histamine production behaviors of M. psychrotolerans and two other major histamine-producers, mesophilic Morganella morganii and psychrotrophic Photobacterium phosphoreum, were compared in seafood products, and histamine accumulation by M. psychrotolerans was characterized at various pH and temperature levels in culture broth. The growth of M. psychrotolerans and P. phosphoreum increased similarly at 4°C in canned tuna, but M. psychrotolerans produced much higher levels of histamine than P. phosphoreum. Histamine accumulation by M. psychrotolerans was induced at lower environmental pH condition at 4 and 20 °C. The optimal temperature and pH for producing histamine by crude histidine decarboxylase of M. psychrotolerans was 30 °C and pH 7, respectively. The activity of the crude HDC extracted from M. psychrotolerans cells at 10 °C retained 45% of the activity at 30°C. Histidine decarboxylase gene expression of M. psychrotolerans was induced by low pH conditions. These results suggest that M. psychrotolerans are also a very important histamine-producer leading to histamine poisoning associated with seafood below the refrigeration temperature.

Comparative genomics of Photobacterium species from terrestrial and marine habitats

“…Although P. phosphoreum and P. iliopiscarium have been largely described as histamine producers on fish ( Bjornsdottir-Butler et al., 2018 ; Bjornsdottir et al., 2009 ; Kanki et al., 2004 ), and the histamine production of several fish-isolated strains previously measured ( López Caballero et al., 2002 ; Morii and Kasama, 2004 ; Torido et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2020 ), we did not detect presence of the hdc gene in any of the screened isolates, also reported by Machado and Gram, 2017 . Measured production of histamine in some of the isolates included in this study (AK-3, AK-8, FS-1.1, FS-1.2, FS-2.1, FS-4.2), reported by Bjornsdottir-Butler et al., 2018 , might be due to the presence of an alternative histidine decarboxylase gene ( hdc 2) recently identified by Bjornsdottir-Butler et al., 2020 .…”

Sanitizing efficacy and antimicrobial mechanism of peracetic acid against histamine-producing bacterium, Morganella psychrotolerans

“…In previous studies, the link between the cases of histamine poisoning and seafood contaminated with M. psychrotolerans has been reported (Dalgaard, Emborg, Kjølby, Sørensen, & Ballin, 2008;Emborg & Dalgaard, 2006;Emborg, Laursen, & Dalgaard, 2005). In our previous studies, we revealed the presence of M. psychrotolerans in retail seafood distributed in Japan (Kato et al, 2017) and also showed that M. psychrotolerans had high histamine-producing abilities (Wang, Yamaki, Kawai, & Yamazaki, 2020). Therefore, controlling M. psychrotolerans populations in seafood is a major challenge faced by the seafood industry.…”

Development of a Rapid and Eco-Friendly UHPLC Analytical Method for the Detection of Histamine in Fish Products

“…Histamine is produced by proteolytic bacteria from the decarboxylation of the amino acid histidine [ 6 , 11 ]. The concentration of histamine in food depends on the histidine contents present and on the presence of microorganisms belonging to the genera Vibrio, Photobacterium, Klebsiella , and Morganella in tissues [ 12 ]. In predisposed individuals, even small doses (e.g., 50 mg kg −1 ) can lead to poisoning [ 13 ].…”