Enhanced protection of pathogenic Escherichia coli ingested by a soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans against sanitizer treatments

Mi Ri Park, Sangnam Oh, Hyun Sun Yun, Soon Han Kim, Young Ho Ko, Jee Hoon Ryu, Min Suk Rhee, Ok Sarah Shin, Younghoon Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We employed Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to study the effectiveness of sanitizers in killing pathogenic Escherichia coli strains ingested by free-living nematodes. Adult worms that had fed on six pathogenic E. coli strains (highly persistent in the nematode intestine) were treated with three chemical solutions. In planktonic cells, none of the H2O2 and acetic acid treatments influenced the survival of the pathogenic E. coli strains, whereas sodium hypochlorite critically decreased the viability of the strains. Importantly, the survival of the E. coli strains was dramatically increased by persistence in the C. elegans gut under 0.1% sodium hypochlorite, and several strains could survive at a concentration of 0.5%. In addition, all pathogenic E. coli strains in the C. elegans gut survived on the lettuce for 5 days even though they were washed with 0.1% sodium hypochlorite. Taken together, our results indicate that pathogenic E. coli ingested by C. elegans may be protected against washing treatment with commercial sanitizers on raw food materials.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1917-1922
    Number of pages6
    JournalBioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry
    Volume78
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2014 Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry.

    Keywords

    • Caenorhabditis elegans
    • Pathogenic E. Coli
    • Persistence
    • Raw food materials
    • Sanitizer

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Medicine

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