African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (22), pp. 2303-2306, 16 November 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Inhibitory activity of Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 against Listeria monocytogenes and ST2-verotoxin producing Escherichia coli O157

HAKIM GHALFI^1,3, PHILIPPE THONART^1,2 AND NOREDDINE BENKERROUM^3*

¹Unité de Bio-Industries, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, 2 Passage de Déportés, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium.

²Centre Wallon de Bio-Industries, Université de liège, Bâtiment B40, 4000 Liège, Belgium.

³Département des Sciences Alimentaires et Nutritionnelles, Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Instituts, 10101-Rabat, Morocco.

*Corresponding author. E.mail: n.benkerroum@gmail.com. Phone: +212 37 77 17 59. Fax: +212 37 77 81 35.

Accepted 13 October, 2006

A bacteriocin-producing strain of Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 isolated from raw meat was shown to inhibit Listeria monocytogenes and pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli by the well diffusion assay. To confirm whether the bacteriocin was involved in E. coli O157 inhibition, growth of the pathogen was monitored in the neutralized cell-free supernatant (NCFS) pre-treated with pronase E or catalase. Alternatively, E. coli O157 (VH21) was co-cultured with Lb. curvatus CWBI-B28 in MRS broth. The results of the well-diffusion assay suggested that the inhibition of E. coli O157 (VH21) was partially due to the bacteriocin; however, growth monitoring indicated that such inhibition is exclusively due to hydrogen peroxide. In pronase-added NCFS (i.e., absence of bacteriocin) the colony forming units (cfus) of E. coli O157 (VHA21) declined to below the detectable limit after 24 h of incubation at 37°C. However, in presence of catalase no inhibition of the pathogen was observed and the cfus increased steadily to reach 8 log units in 24 h. Moreover, in co-culture, a significantly accelerated inhibition of E. coli O157 (VH21) was observed in MRS broth as compared to the NCFS without added catalase and the cfus decreased to below the detectable limit in 8 h instead of 24 h, respectively.    

Key words: Lactobacillus curvatus, Bacteriocin, hydrogen peroxide, Listeria monocytogenes, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157.