• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.800-806
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• 2015

We investigated the effects of a pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on microbial inactivation and the physical properties of low-fat milk. Milk inoculated with Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or Lactobacillus brevis was supplied to a pilot-scale PEF treatment system at a flow rate of 30 L/h. Pulses with an electric field strength of 10 kV/cm and a pulse width of 30 µs were applied to the milk with total pulse energies of 50-250 kJ/L achieved by varying the pulse frequency. The inactivation curves of the test microorganisms were biphasic with an initial lag phase (or shoulder) followed by a phase of rapid inactivation. PEF treatments with a total pulse energy of 200 kJ/L resulted in a 4.5-log reduction in E. coli, a 4.4-log reduction in L. brevis, and a 6.0-log reduction in S. cerevisiae. Total pulse energies of 200 and 250 kJ/L resulted in greater than 5-log reductions in microbial counts in stored PEF-treated milk, and the growth of surviving microorganisms was slow during storage for 15 d at 4℃. PEF treatment did not change milk physical properties such as pH, color, or particle-size distribution (p<0.05). These results indicate that a relatively low electric-field strength of 10 kV/cm can be used to pasteurize low-fat milk.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2015

Intense pulsed light (IPL), a nonthermal technology, has attracted increasing interest as a food processing technology. However, its efficacy in inactivating microorganisms has not been evaluated thoroughly. In this study, we investigated the influence of IPL treatment on the inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 depending on light intensity, treatment time, and pulse number. Increased light intensity from 500 V to 1,000 V, raised the inactivation rate at room temperature. At 1000 V, the cell numbers were reduced by 7.1 log cycles within 120 s. In addition, increased pulse number or decreased distance between the light source and sample surface also led to an increase in the inactivation rate. IPL exposure caused a significant increase in the absorption at 260 nm of the suspending agent used in our experiments. This indicates that IPL-treated cells were damaged, consequently releasing intracellular materials. The growth of IPL-irradiated cells were delayed by about 5 h. The degree of damage to the cells after IPL treatment was confimed by transmission electron microscopy.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2010

This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of three kinds of single process (electrolysis, UV and ultrasonic process) for the purpose of disinfection of Escherichia coli in water. Among the five kinds of electrode material, disinfection performance of Ir electrode was higher than that of the other electrodes. The order of disinfection performance for E. coli in single process lies in: electrolysis > UV $\gg$ ultrasonic process. Performance of the three single processes was increased with the increase of the electric power. Disinfection efficiency of the three processes was increased with the decrease of the pH. Disinfection of the UV process were decreased by the increase of NaCl dosage and air flow rate. However, ultrasonic process was not affected above two parameters. OH radical was not produced in UV and ultrasonic process. E. coli disinfection of the electrolysis process was well agreed with RNO degradation tendency, except pH.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.386-391
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• 2014

Atmospheric-pressure nonthermal corona discharge plasma was applied to the sterilization of biologically contaminated scoria powder. Escherichia coli (E. coli) culture solution was uniformly sprayed throughout the scoria powder for artificial inoculation, which was well mixed to ensure uniformity of the batch. The effect of the key parameters such as discharge power, treatment time, type of gas and electrode distance on the sterilization efficiency was examined and discussed. The experimental results revealed that the plasma treatment was very effective for the sterilization of scoria powder; 5-min treatment at 15 W could sterilize more than 99.9% of E. coli inoculated into the scoria powder. Increasing the discharge power, treatment time or applied voltage led to an improvement in the sterilization efficiency. The effect of type of gas on the sterilization efficiency was in order of oxygen, synthetic air (20% oxygen) and nitrogen from high to low. The inactivation of E. coli under the influence of corona discharge plasma can be explained by cell membrane erosion or etching resulting from UV and reactive oxidizing species (oxygen radical, OH radical, ozone, etc.), and the destruction of E. coli cell membrane by the physical action of numerous corona streamers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.379-388
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• 2019

Chlorination and UV illumination are being widely applied to inactivate a number of pathogenic microbials in the environment. Here, we evaluated the inactivation efficiency of individual and combined treatments of chlorination and UV under various aqueous conditions. UV dosage was required higher in waste water than in phosphate buffer to achieve the similar disinfecting efficiency. Free chlorine generated by electrolysis of waste water was abundant enough to inactivate microbials. Based on these, hybrid system composed of sequential treatment of electrolysis-mediated chlorination and UV treatment was developed under waste water conditions. Compared to individual treatments, hybrid system inactivated bacteria (i.e., E. coli and S. typhimurium) and viruses (i.e., MS-2 bacteriophage, rotavirus, and norovirus) more efficiently. The hybrid system also mitigated the photo re-pair of UV-driven DNA damages of target bacteria. The combined results suggested the hybrid system would achieve high inactivation efficiency and safety on various pathogenic microbials in wastewater.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.1209-1213
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• 1998

The gamma-radiation sensitivity of four kinds of Escherichia coli O157:H7 was investigated in frozen cells $(-18^{\circ}C)$ with 0.1 M phosphate buffer and inoculated cells in beef. The maximum populations were observed at 12 hr when E. coli O157:H7 was incubated in the tryptic soy broth at $37^{\circ}C$. In the case of the frozen cells at logarithmic phase, the $D_{10}$ and $12D_{10}$ values of four kinds of E. coli O157:H7 were $0.09{\sim}0.15\;kGy$ and $1.08{\sim}1.80\;kGy$, and inactivation factors were $13.33{\sim}22.22$ and $20.00{\sim}33.33$ at radiation doses of 2 and 3 kGy, respectively. The radiosensitivity of inoculated E. coli O157:H7 in beef showed the $D_{10}$ value of $0.30{\sim}0.47\;kGy$, the $12D_{10}$ value of $3.60{\sim}5.64\;kGy$, and inactivation factor of $4.26{\sim}10.00$. The radiosensitivity of the frozen cells was higher than that of the inoculated E. coli O157:H7 in beef. Gamma irradiation at doses within the range of 1.5 to 3 kGy is considered to be an effective method to control E. coli O157:H7 in beef.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1552-1558
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• 2020

With an increase in the consumption of non-heated fresh food, foodborne shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has emerged as one of the most problematic pathogens worldwide. Endolysin, a bacteriophage-derived lysis protein, is able to lyse the target bacteria without any special resistance, and thus has been garnering interest as a powerful antimicrobial agent. In this study, rV5-like phage endolysin targeting E. coli O157:H7, named as LysECP26, was identified and purified. This endolysin had a lysozyme-like catalytic domain, but differed markedly from the sequence of lambda phage endolysin. LysECP26 exhibited strong activity with a broad lytic spectrum against various gram-negative strains (29/29) and was relatively stable at a broad temperature range (4℃-55℃). The optimum temperature and pH ranges of LysECP26 were identified at 37℃-42℃ and pH 7-8, respectively. NaCl supplementation did not affect the lytic activity. Although LysECP26 was limited in that it could not pass the outer membrane, E. coli O157: H7 could be effectively controlled by adding ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and citric acid (1.44 and 1.14 log CFU/ml) within 30 min. Therefore, LysECP26 may serve as an effective biocontrol agent for gram-negative pathogens, including E. coli O157:H7.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 1998

Gamma irradiated and non-irradiated Agrimonia pilosa Ledebour were extracted by 70% ethanol. The combined effects of the Agrimonia pilosa Ledebour extract and NaCl on survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in tryptic soy broth were investigated. E. coli O157:H7 decreased ca 1 log cycle by the addition of 2% sample extract, and the anthbacterial activity was increased as the concentration of sample extract was increased. The irradiation effect of the sample on antibacterial activity was not observed. On the treatment of NaCl alone, E. coli O157:H7 was inactivated (ca 3~4 log cycle reduction within 48 hr) in more than 7% NaCl. The higher inactivation(ca 5 log cycle reduction within 48 hr) occurred in the presence of 2% sample extract and 5% NaCl than in the addition of each alone. The extracted antibacterial substance was stable in the pH range of 4.0 to 7.0, heat treatment at 121$^\circ C$ for 15 min, and freezing at -18$^\circ C$ and thawing at 37$^\circ C$. There fore, the sample extract, would substantially increase the food-safety in terms of E. coli O157:H7.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.258-263
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• 1998

Acetolactate synthase (ALS) is the common enzyme in the biosynthetic pathways leading to leucine, valine, and isoleucine. Tobacco ALS was expressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. The recombinant tobacco ALS was inactivated by thiol-specific reagents, N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) and 5,5'-dithio-bis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB). Inactivation of the ALS by NEM followed pseudo-first order kinetics and was first order with respect to the modifier. The substrate pyruvate protected the enzyme against the inactivation by NEM and DTNB. Extrapolation to complete inactivation of the enzyme by DTNB showed modification of approximately 2 out of 4 total cysteinyl residues (or 2 cysteinyl and 1 cysteinyl residues), with approximately 1 residue protected by pyruvate. The tobacco ALS was also inactivated by the tryptophanspecific reagent, N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), and was similarly protected by pyruvate. The kinetics of the inactivation was first-order with respect to NBS. The present data suggest that cysteinyl and tryptophanyl residues play a key role in the catalytic function of the enzyme.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.278-283
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• 1991

Two amino acid residues ($Ala^{494}$ and $Ser^{495}$ of E. coli .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase have been investigated whether they are the site of feedback inhibition by site specific mutagenesis. Single substitution of $serine^{495}$ (S495F), and double substitutions of alanine$^{494}$ and $serine^{495}$ (A494G-S495F) resulted in the inactivation of the .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase activity. Substitution of $alanine^{494}$ with $glycine^{494}$ resulted in a higher level of feedback inhibition. These results suggest that $serine^{495}$ in .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase is required for its catalytic acitvity and $alanine^{494}$ is presumably related to the feeback inhibition site.