Transcriptomic and proteomic investigation of metabolic disruption in Listeria monocytogenes triggered by linalool and its application in chicken breast preservation

Abstract

Linalool has outstanding antibacterial activity, while few studies have elucidated its inhibitory mechanism based on omics combination techniques. This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial mechanism of linalool toward L. monocytogenes after subjected to transcriptomics and proteomics, and its application in chicken breast preservation. Significant change in transcription and protein levels were verified with linalool, among which, 248 genes were upregulated and 23 were suppressed, while 74 proteins were significantly expressed, and 25 were down. The metabolic network implied that the differentially expressed genes and proteins were mainly involved in DNA replication and repair, energy-related pathways, amino acid and protein metabolism, environmental stimulus responses. Overall, all results above confirmed that linalool exerted antibacterial effect by damaging cellular structure, impairing energy metabolism, activating specific amino acid metabolism and DNA repair for emergency energy supply and coping with DNA damage. In particular, linalool can effectively prevent the growth of L. monocytogenes in chicken breast during the storage at 4 °C for 9 days without affecting the sensory acceptability based on pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, total viable counts and sensory evaluation. This study lays theoretical foundations for the antibacterial mechanism of linalool and its application as novel natural antibacterial agents in foods.