http://naturalingredient.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/Burt_Essential_Oils_A_Review_2004.pdf

Essential oils: their antibacterial properties and potential applications in foods--a review.

Antibiotics have always been considered one of the wonder discoveries of the 20th century. This is true, but the real wonder is the rise of antibiotic resistance in hospitals, communities, and the environment concomitant with their use. The extraordinary genetic capacities of microbes have benefitted from man's overuse of antibiotics to exploit every source of resistance genes and every means of horizontal gene transmission to develop multiple mechanisms of resistance for each and every antibiotic introduced into practice clinically, agriculturally, or otherwise. This review presents the salient aspects of antibiotic resistance development over the past half-century, with the oft-restated conclusion that it is time to act. To achieve complete restitution of therapeutic applications of antibiotics, there is a need for more information on the role of environmental microbiomes in the rise of antibiotic resistance. In particular, creative approaches to the discovery of novel antibiotics and their expedited and controlled introduction to therapy are obligatory.

Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Bacteriocins of gram-positive bacteria.

There is an urgent need in aquaculture to develop microbial control strategies, since disease outbreaks are recognized as important constraints to aquaculture production and trade and since the development of antibiotic resistance has become a matter of growing concern. One of the alternatives to antimicrobials in disease control could be the use of probiotic bacteria as microbial control agents. This review describes the state of the art of probiotic research in the culture of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and live food, with an evaluation of the results obtained so far. A new definition of probiotics, also applicable to aquatic environments, is proposed, and a detailed description is given of their possible modes of action, i.e., production of compounds that are inhibitory toward pathogens, competition with harmful microorganisms for nutrients and energy, competition with deleterious species for adhesion sites, enhancement of the immune response of the animal, improvement of water quality, and interaction with phytoplankton. A rationale is proposed for the multistep and multidisciplinary process required for the development of effective and safe probiotics for commercial application in aquaculture. Finally, directions for further research are discussed.

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Probiotic Bacteria as Biological Control Agents in Aquaculture

Bacteriocins are bacterially produced antimicrobial peptides with narrow or broad host ranges. Many bacteriocins are produced by food-grade lactic acid bacteria, a phenomenon which offers food scientists the possibility of directing or preventing the development of specific bacterial species in food. This can be particularly useful in preservation or food safety applications, but also has implications for the development of desirable flora in fermented food. In this sense, bacteriocins can be used to confer a rudimentary form of innate immunity to foodstuffs, helping processors extend their control over the food flora long after manufacture.

Bacteriocins: developing innate immunity for food

Brand-new undergraduate textbook that complements Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers- Presents up-to-date issues in food microbiology, such as mad cow disease, food biosecurity, and molecularly-based food detection systems- Provides useful pedagogical tools such as chapter objectives, chapter summaries, text boxes, and questions to stimulate critical thought- Written in readable style and language- Reviewed by students for depth of coverage and use of terminology appropriate at under-graduate level

Concepts in physiology and metabolism

Evaluation of Inosine Monophosphate and Hypoxanthine as Indicators of Bacterial Growth in Stored Red Meat.

The ability of L. monocytogenes cells to adapt to a variety of stressors contributes to its growth in a wide range of foods. The present study examines the effect of acid and of the acid tolerance response (ATR) on membrane fluidity and on the organism’s resistance to acid and to the bacteriocin nisin. When ATR was induced in wild-type cells, these cells also became resistant to nisin. ATR(+) cells also had lower membrane rigidities than control ATR(−) cells that had not been subjected to the acid tolerance response. However, cells that were genetically resistant to nisin did not show any significant (P < 0.05) change in rigidity when grown in the presence of nisin. These studies suggest that the use of acid and nisin for L. monocytogenes control in ready-to-eat foods may be compromised if cross-resistance emerges.

The Acid Tolerance Response Alters Membrane Fluidity and Induces Nisin Resistance in Listeria monocytogenes

http://meridian.allenpress.com/jfp/article-pdf/71/1/196/1682131/0362-028x-71_1_196.pdf

Influence of nisin on the resistance of Bacillus anthracis sterne spores to heat and hydrostatic pressure.

The influence of oxygen transfer rates on glucose catabolism by Lactobacillus plantarum 8014 growing at a dilution rate of 0.20 h −1 and a constant pH of 6.0 was examined. Biomass production increased linearly with increasing oxygen transfer rates over the range of 0 to 5.07 millimoles l −1 min −1 . Acetate and acetoin production increased at the expense of lactate production as the oxygen transfer rate increased up to 2.07 millimoles l −1 min −1 . This trend reversed at higher oxygen transfer rates

Thomas J. Montville

Papers

Concepts in physiology and metabolism

Evaluation of Inosine Monophosphate and Hypoxanthine as Indicators of Bacterial Growth in Stored Red Meat.

The Acid Tolerance Response Alters Membrane Fluidity and Induces Nisin Resistance in Listeria monocytogenes

Influence of nisin on the resistance of Bacillus anthracis sterne spores to heat and hydrostatic pressure.

Oxygen sensitive catabolite distribution in Lactobacillus plantarum chemostat cultures