Antimicrobial compounds nisin

Organic acids (lactic, acetic) Bacteriocins co2 Hydrogen peroxide Diacetyl Reuterin Ethanol Increase acidity, antimicrobial compounds Nisin only bacteriocin permitted as food preservative, disrupts cytoplasmic membrane Reduces membrane permeability Oxidizes proteins Interacts with arginine-binding proteins Not confirmed, may interact with thiol group in proteins that may lead to oxidative stress (Whitehead et al., 2008)... 

The addition of nitrate is becoming increasingly unpopular due to possible formation of carcinogenic nitrogen-containing compounds in the cheese. In the production of cheese spreads and other processed cheese products, the problem has been solved by the addition of nisin (an antimicrobial compound produced by certain strains of Lactococcus). 

Modern methods of livestock production are intensive and the environmental conditions stress the animals. The use of antibiotics promotes growth and protects the animals from otherwise certain infection under these conditions. Antibiotic-like compounds formed in lactic acid fermentations prevent proliferation of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms and increase the shelf life of the products. Nisin is a antimicrobial produced by a lactic acid bacterium and is used in some countries as a food preservative. Some lactic acid bacteria are capable of favorably influencing the fecal flora in man and animals. 

LAB produce several compounds with antimicrobial properties as a result of nutrient competition with other microorganisms growing in the same niche. These antimicrobial active metabolites consist of nonspecific antimicrobial substances such as short-chain fatty acids (formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, and lactic acids), ethanol and hydrogen peroxide, and toxins including bacteri-ocins (nisin, reuterin, reutericyclin, pediocin, lacticin, enterocin, and others). 

Much of the negative attitude about antibiotics arises because the aforementioned problems are inherent in the nature of penicillin and other common antibiotics—namely, they are xenobiotic compounds that have evolved in a context that virtually assures that for every antibiotic. Nature has co-evolved a defense, or resistance, to it. If each and every one of Nature s antibiotic substances conformed to this same general pattern, then we would indeed be in a difficult situation. Fortunately, this is not the case, and nisin is an excellent example of an antibiotic with something very different to offer. First of all, it is a peptide and, therefore, a polymer of amino acids. Peptides are not alien things, and our metabolism has evolved around utilizing polypeptides as food. An antimicrobial peptide such as nisin will be digested in a normal residue-free fashion, unlike penicillin, which persists in the gut and floods out into the tissues, where its fate is problematic. 

Antimicrobial releasing Organic acids (benzoic acid, sorbic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid), silver salts, sulfur and its compounds, bacteriocins (nisin and lacticin), zeolites, chlorine dioxide, grape seed extracts, lemon seed extracts, spice extracts (thymol, p-cymene, and cinnamalde-hyde), enzymes (peroxidase and lysozyme), chitosan, chelating agents (EDTA), Plant essential oils... 

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