Changes of cell structure and characteristics of Salmonella under heat stress: a review

Abstract:

Salmonella is one of the most important foodborne pathogens. Due to food matrix protection, some Salmonella can survive from heat stress. However, the bacterial cell structure, physiological characteristics, gene and protein expression commonly varied because of heat stress and/or cell response, and subsequently, these survived cells can continuously contaminate the raw food materials and processing environment. In this paper, the changes of cell morphology, cell components, cell wall and cell membrane structure of Salmonella before and after heat stress were summarized. Meanwhile, the molecular mechanism of DNA damage, heat shock response, stress resistance and pathogenicity caused by the survived Salmonella under heat stress was discussed based on gene and protein expression.

Key words:Salmonella, heat stress, cell structure, heat resistance response, molecular mechanism