Hydrophobic and electrostatic cell surface properties of thermophilic dairy streptococci

Microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons (MATH) and microelectrophoresis were done in 10 mM potassium phosphate solutions to characterize the surfaces of thermophilic dairy streptococci, isolated from pasteurizers. Regardless of whether they were grown (in M17 broth) with lactose, sucrose, or glucose added, strains were relatively hydrophilic (showing low initial removal rates by hexadecane) and slightly negatively charged. A tendency exists for cells grown with sucrose added to be more hydrophilic than cells grown with glucose or lactose added. Also, the lowest isoelectric points, i.e., the pH values for which the zeta potentials are zero, were measured for strains with glucose added to the growth medium. The isoelectric points for the strains were all rather high, between pH 3 and 5, indicative of protein-rich surfaces, although X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy did not measure excessively large amounts of nitrogen on the cell surfaces. Both MATH and microelectrophoresis were done as a function of pH. Maxima in hydrophobicity were observed at certain pH values. Usually these pH values were in the range of the isoelectric points of the cells. Thus it appears that MATH measures an interplay of hydrophobicity and electrostatic interactions. MATH measures solely hydrophobicity only when electrostatic interactions are absent, i.e., close to the isoelectric points of the cells. Considering that these thermophilic streptococci are all rather hydrophilic, a possible pathway to prevent fouling in the pasteurization process might be to render the heat exchanger plates of the pasteurizer more hydrophobic.