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The Effect of the Application of Thyme Essential Oil on Microbial Load During Meat Drying
Published on: March 14, 2018
Sublethal cinnamon essential oil induces oxidative stress-driven metabolic reprogramming and attenuates spoilage
Yueping Yang1, Ru Song1, Pengcheng Li1
1School of Food Science and Pharmacy, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, PR China.
Abstract:
Plant essential oils exhibit potent antibacterial activity against food spoilage-associated bacteria; however, the anti-spoilage mechanism of cinnamon essential oil (CEO) at sublethal concentrations against Psychrobacter faecalis (P. faecalis), a dominant spoilage bacterium isolated from refrigerated squid, is still unclear. Our results demonstrated the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CEO was 0.72 mg/mL (cinnamaldehyde equivalent). Notably, at a sublethal concentration (1/2 MIC), CEO exerted no significant effect on bacterial growth, however, markedly inhibited biofilm formation and extracellular protease secretion. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes (DGEs) were predominantly enriched in amino acid metabolism, nitrogen utilization, and nicotinate/nicotinamide metabolism pathways; real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction validation confirmed significant downregulation (P < 0.05) of key DEGs (pta, GDH2, ggt, glnA, argH, gabD, OTC) implicated in amino acid and nitrogen catabolism. Metabolomic profiling further demonstrated attenuated generation of spoilage-related odorant precursors (L-tyrosine, phenylpyruvate, N6,N6-dimethyllysine), depletion of biofilm matrix phospholipid precursors (phosphoethanolamine, sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine), and accumulation of phospholipase-mediated membrane degradation products (LysoPC 15:0/0:0). Exhaustion of antioxidant reserves (l-ascorbic acid) concomitant with upregulation of lipid peroxidation biomarkers [9(S)-HODE, (7S,8S)-DiHODE, 9,10-DiHOME] confirmed severe intracellular oxidative stress. Metabolic flux redirection toward fatty acid β-oxidation indicated compensatory energy metabolism. Integrative multi-omics analysis established strong negative correlations between downregulated metabolic genes and oxidative stress markers, positioning CEO-induced oxidative stress as the initiating and orchestrating force of metabolic dysregulation. This oxidative stress-driven synergism, encompassing resource reallocation toward stress repair, systematic metabolic network suppression, and structural biofilm degradation, functionally incapacitated spoilage potential despite bacterial viability. Our findings suggest CEO's promise as a targeted anti-spoilage agent for refrigerated seafood preservation.
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