Antimicrobial, anti-biofilm properties of three naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides against spoilage bacteria, and their synergistic effect with chemical preservatives in food storage

Spoilage microorganism pollution is an important challenge in food industry. In the present study, three naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) identified previously from different sources were selected to evaluate the possibility of developing them as novel bio-preservatives. All the three AMPs exhibited potent, broad-spectrum, and rapid antimicrobial activities against spoilage bacteria. They kill spoilage bacteria by inducing membrane permeabilization and interacting with bacterial DNA. They also exhibited potent anti-biofilm capacity and strong synergistic effects with conventional chemical preservatives in bacterial killing assay. In food storage assay, they exhibited effective antiseptic functions in three different food matrices. Combined use of AMPs with chemical preservative showed good synergistic effect in food storage. Meanwhile, the three AMPs could be gradually degraded by trypsin, which may avoid their accumulation and toxicity in human body. All the results above imply the great potential of developing the three AMPs as novel bio-preservatives in food storage.