ARS | Publication request: Antibacterial activity of a 7,10-dihydroxy-8(E)-octadecenoic acid against food-bourne pathogenic bacteria

Submitted to: Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 30, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A microbial culture named PR3 produces oxygenated fatty acids from oleic acid and linoleic acid. Hydroxy fatty acids are useful as starting materials for the synthesis of specialty chemicals, special military nylon, plastisizers, coating materials, and possibly as antimicrobial and other bioactive (such as enzyme inhibitor) agents. In this research we studied antibacterial activities of a new material callled DOD (dihydroxy unsaturated fatty acid), against food-bourne pathogenic bacteria. We found that DOD possesses antibiotic activity against both Gram positive and Gram negative food-bourne pathogenic bacteria tested including: Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. These results suggested that the new material DOD could be considered a promising antimicrobial agent in improving food safety since DOD was produced from vegetable oil by microbial conversion process. This finding may help improve human health.

Technical Abstract: Microbial conversion of the natural unsaturated fatty acids often generate polyhydroxy fatty acids rendering them to have new properties such as higher viscosity and reactivity. A bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PR3) has been intensively studied to produce a novel 7,10-dihydroxy-8(E)-octadecenoic acid (DOD) from oleic acid or natural vegetable oils containing oleic acid. However, biological properties of DOD remained unknown so far. In this study, antibacterial activities of DOD against food-born pathogenic bacteria have been determined quantitatively and qualitatively. DOD presented antibacterial activities against all the bacterial strains tested with MIC value being in the range of 125 – 500 µg/ml and there was no activity preference between gram-positive and gram-negative strains. These results suggested that the DOD molecule could be considered as a promising antimicrobial agent in improving food safety since DOD was produced from the natural vegetable oil by microbial conversion process.