The pentacyclic peptide antibiotic nisin, produced by Lactococcus lactis is ubiquitously applied as a food preservative. We previously demonstrated that the truncated nisin-(1-22) has only 10-fold lower activity than nisin. Here we aimed at further developing this tricyclic nisin analog to reach activity comparable to that of nisin. Our data demonstrate that: (1) ring A has a large mutational f...

Lactococcus lactis 61-14 isolated from river water produced a bacteriocin active against a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria. N-terminal amino acid sequencing, mass spectral analysis of the purified bacteriocin, and genetic analysis using nisin-specific primers showed that the bacteriocin was a new natural nisin variant, termed nisin Q. Nisin Q and nisin A differ in four amino acids in the m...

The use of small antimicrobial peptides or bacteriocins, like nisin, to treat cancer is a new approach that holds great promise. Nisin exemplifies this new approach because it has been used safely in humans for many years as a food preservative, and recent laboratory studies support its anti-tumor potential in head and neck cancer. Previously, we showed that nisin (2.5%, low content) has antitu...

The inactivation effects of high pressure CO2 + nisin (simultaneous treatment of HPCD and nisin, HPCD + nisin), HPCD→nisin (HPCD was followed by nisin), and nisin→HPCD (nisin was followed by HPCD) treatments on Bacillus subtilis spores in aqueous solutions were compared. The spores were treated by HPCD at 6.5 or 20 MPa, 84-86°C and 0-30 min, and the concentration of nisin was 0.02%. Treated spo...

Nisin is the prototypical example of the lantibiotic family of antimicrobial peptides and has been employed as a food preservative for over half a century. It has also attracted attention due to its potency against a number of multidrug-resistant clinical pathogens. Nisin A is the originally isolated form of Nisin and a further five natural variants have been described which differ by up to 10 ...

The microbial distribution of raw materials and beef jerky, and the effect of nisin on the growth of Bacillus cereus inoculated in beef jerky during storage, were studied. Five strains of pathogenic B. cereus were detected in beef jerky, and identified with 99.8% agreement using API CHB 50 kit. To evaluate the effect of nisin, beef jerky was inoculated with approximately 3 Log CFU/g of B. cereu...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect of nisin-loaded chitosan/alginate nanoparticles as a novel antibacterial delivery vehicle. The nisin-loaded nanoparticles were prepared using colloidal dispersion of the chitosan/alginate polymers in the presence of nisin. After the preparation of the nisin-loaded nanoparticles, their physicochemical properties such as size, shape, ...

Three mutants of the antibiotic nisin Z, in which the Val32 residue was replaced by a Glu, Lys or Trp residue, were produced and characterized for the purpose of establishing the role of charge differences in the C-terminal part of nisin on antimicrobial activity and signaling properties. 1H-NMR analyses showed that all three mutants harbor an unmodified serine residue at position 33, instead o...

Nisin A is the most thoroughly investigated member of the lantibiotic family of antimicrobial peptides. In addition to a long history of safe use as a food antimicrobial, its activity against multi-drug resistant pathogens has resulted in a renewed interest in applying nisin as a chemotherapeutic to treat bacterial infections. The wealth of Nisin-related information that has been generated has ...

Nisin is a bacteriocin that is widely used as a safe, natural preservative in food products. Nisin-controlled gene expression (NICE) systems and food-grade expression systems with nisin resistance as the selection marker are increasingly attracting attention owing to their food-grade statuses. However, the putative influence of nisin resistance on NICE systems deserves consideration when nisin ...