Bacillus cereus spores pose a challenge to the food industry owing to their ability to germinate in food during storage and produce toxins. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) at low electric field strength (i.e., 7.3, 8.1, 8.8 and 9.4 kV/cm) and moderate temperatures (65, 70, 75 and 80°C) on B. cereus spores. PEF treatment at 9.4 kV/cm at 80°C (pulse width of 20 μs and frequency of 300 Hz) led to a 3.1 log CFU/ml reduction in the number of B. cereus spores and importantly, the D_88°C values of the surviving spores were reduced by 12 min. Differential gene expression revealed the upregulation of the gene (BC1768) encoding for chitooligosaccharide deacetylase involved in peptidoglycan degradation in PEF treated spores. The gene (BC2729) encoding for a penicillin‐binding protein required for septation during sporulation was downregulated in PEF treated spores.

中文翻译：

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中等温度（80°C）脉冲电场对蜡状芽孢杆菌孢子失活，耐热性和差异基因表达的影响

蜡状芽孢杆菌的孢子由于在储存过程中在食物中发芽并产生毒素的能力而对食品工业构成挑战。当前研究的目的是研究脉冲电场（PEF）在低电场强度（即7.3、8.1、8.8和9.4 kV / cm）和中等温度（65、70、75和80°C）下的影响）在蜡状芽孢杆菌孢子上。在80°C下以9.4 kV / cm的PEF处理（脉冲宽度为20μs，频率为300 Hz）导致蜡状芽孢杆菌孢子数量下降了3.1 log CFU / ml ，重要的是D _88°C存活的孢子的值降低了12分钟。差异基因表达揭示了编码参与PEF处理的孢子中肽聚糖降解的壳寡糖脱乙酰基酶的基因（BC1768）的上调。在PEF处理的孢子中，编码孢子形成过程中分离所需的青霉素结合蛋白的基因（BC2729）被下调。