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Mitochondrial DNA Fragmentation to Monitor Processing Parameters in High Acid, Plant‐Derived Foods
Author(s) -
Caldwell Jane M.,
PérezDíaz Ilenys M.,
Harris Keith,
Hassan Hosni M.,
Simunovic Josip,
Sandeep K.P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/1750-3841.13139
Subject(s) - pasteurization , dna fragmentation , mitochondrial dna , fragmentation (computing) , amplicon , fermentation , food science , chemistry , polymerase chain reaction , biochemistry , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , apoptosis , ecology , programmed cell death
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragmentation was assessed in acidified foods. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, C t values measured from fresh, fermented, pasteurized, and stored cucumber mtDNA were determined to be significantly different ( P > 0.05) based on processing and shelf‐life. This indicated that the combination of lower temperature thermal processes (hot‐fill at 75 °C for 15 min) and acidified conditions (pH = 3.8) was sufficient to cause mtDNA fragmentation. In studies modeling high acid juices, pasteurization (96 °C, 0 to 24 min) of tomato serum produced C t values which had high correlation to time‐temperature treatment. Primers producing longer amplicons (approximately 1 kb) targeting the same mitochondrial gene gave greater sensitivity in correlating time‐temperature treatments to C t values. Lab‐scale pasteurization studies using C t values derived from the longer amplicon differentiated between heat treatments of tomato serum (95 °C for <2 min). MtDNA fragmentation was shown to be a potential new tool to characterize low temperature (<100 °C) high acid processes (pH < 4.6), nonthermal processes such as vegetable fermentation and holding times of acidified, plant‐derived products.