Premium
Short‐chain organic acids at pH 5.0 kill Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. without causing membrane perturbation
Author(s) -
Cherrington Christina A.,
Hinton M.,
Pearson G.R.,
Chopra I.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1991.tb04442.x
Subject(s) - escherichia coli , salmonella , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , perturbation (astronomy) , membrane , enterobacteriaceae , biology , biochemistry , bacteria , physics , genetics , gene , quantum mechanics
When strains of Escherichia coli K12 and Salmonella spp. were incubated with 0.5–0.7 mol/l formic or propionic acid at pH 5.0, propionic acid was more active than formic acid. It killed 90% of the cell population within 60 min compared with over 3 h for formic acid. Cell death was not associated with a reduction in culture turbidity or a loss of membrane integrity since morphologically normal membranes were observed by electron microscopy and only a small proportion of the cytoplasmic enzyme β‐galactosidase leaked into the supernatant fluid of acid‐treated E. coli K12 cultures.