• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.678-684
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• 2020

The objective of this study was to identify the fermentation characteristics of Bacillus thuringiensis and emetic, non-emetic Bacillus cereus using analytical profile index (API) test. Ten strains of B. thuringiensis and 10 strains of B. cereus including 3 strains of emetic type were used at the same concentrations. The differences of fermentation characteristics between the B. thuringiensis and B. cereus was not obvious, but the differences between the non-emetic and emetic B. cereus were distinctive. Seven among 50 substrates were negative for all non-emetic B. cereus strains and positive for all emetic strains, and three substrates among additional 12 substrates had the same tendency. From these differences, 3 emetic B. cereus strains were not indicated as B. cereus by API test. These results indicate that API test is not a suitable method to identify some strains of emetic B. cereus, and the distinctive differences in substrate utilization can be used to improve selective media.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.558-565
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to develop a predictive growth model for Bacillus cereus in nutrient broth and validate the developed growth model in blanched vegetables. After inoculating B. cereus into nutrient broth, growth of B. cereus was investigated at 13, 17, 24, 30 and $35^{\circ}C$. Lag time (LT) decreased while specific growth rate (SGR) increased with an increase in storage temperature. Growth of B. cereus was not observed at temperatures lower than $12^{\circ}C$. Secondary growth models were developed to describe primary model parameters, including LT and SGR. Model performance was evaluated based on bias factor ($B_f$) and accuracy factor ($A_f$). In addition, we inoculated B. cereus into blanched vegetables stored at 13, 24, $35^{\circ}C$ and observed the growth kinetics of B. cereus in five different blanched vegetables. Growth of B. cereus was most delayed on Doraji at $13^{\circ}C$ and was not observed on Gosari at $13^{\circ}C$. Growth of B. cereus at $35^{\circ}C$ was significantly (p<0.05) slower on Gosari than on other blanched vegetables. The developed secondary LT model for broth in this study was suitable to predict growth of B. cereus on Doraji and Gosari, whereas the SGR model was only suitable for predicting the growth of B. cereus on mung bean sprout.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.339-346
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• 1992

These studies were carried out to identify Bacillus cereus group 1..5-] strain isolated from 5uyeong Bay. This strain was differentiated from B. cereus group using conventional, API system and fatty acid composition analysis. Colony characteristics were opague. mucoid, entire margin. convex. circular and non hemolysis on sheep blood agar plates, and were observed with central spore forming positive bacilli in a Gram stained preparation. and had no motility. The carbohydrates tested; glucose.maltose, and sucrose were assimilated but neither trehalose nor salicin were assimilated. This strain ultilized gelatin and was also inhibited by 6.5% NaCI. The results of biochemical examination were differented from B. cereus group LS-1 compared with others B. cereus group. The fatty acid composition contained major amounts of branched chain acids. iso $C_{15}$ and iso $C_{13}$ and the range of chain length was $C_{12}$ to C"$C_{17}$ and n$C_{15}$, acid was not detected. Automated fatty acid computer profile indicated "B. mycoides GC subgroup B of 0.312 similarity index." The results agreed with other research cases. On the other hand. A TB computer prolile index of API system (API 50 CHB & API 20E) identified" Doubtful profile of 99.7% B. firmus" . These results were presented with considerable discrepancies between API system and fatty acid analysis. With 67 biochemical characters. the similarity matrix of B. mycaides (KCTC 1033). B. thuringiensis (KCTC 1033). B. cereus (5-3) and B. mycoides (S-12) showed 42%. 42%. 59%, and 52%. respectively. Through the key tests and fatty acid analyses. we could notice the appearance of B. mycoides of the B. cereus group and this leads us to suspect the existence of a new biotype B. mycoides.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1177-1182
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• 2007

Bacillus cereus group bacteria share a significant degree of genetic similarity. Thus, to differentiate and identify the Bacillus cereus group efficiently, a multiplex PCR method using the gyrB and groEL genes as diagnostic markers is suggested for simultaneous detection. The assay yielded a 400 bp amplicon for the groEL gene from all the B. cereus group bacteria, and a 253 bp amplicon from B. anthracis, 475 bp amplicon from B. cereus, 299 bp amplicon from B. thuringiensis, and 604 bp amplicon from B. mycoides for the gyrB gene. No nonspecific amplicons were observed with the DNA from 29 other pathogenic bacteria. The specificity and sensitivity of the B. cereus group identification using this multiplex PCR assay were evaluated with different kinds of food samples. In conclusion, the proposed multiplex PCR is a reliable, simple, rapid, and efficient method for the simultaneous identification of B. cereus group bacteria from food samples in a single tube.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2010

Objectives : This experimental study was performed to investigate the antibacterial effect of Caesalpinia sappan and Coptis chinensis extract against B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus. Methods : Methanol extracts of C. sappan and C. chinensis was tested against B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus by paper disc method. Results : The growth of B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus was inhibited by C. sappan and C. chinensis extract among 6 kinds of medicinal plant extracts. The extract of C. sappan and C. chinensis extract inhibited the growth of V. parahaemolyticus and B. cereus, respectively. The growth of B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus had a tendency to increase depend on the concentration of the extract. EtOEt and EtOAc fractions and EtOEt and BuOH fractions of the C. sappan extract had a high antibacterial activity against B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus, respectively. And, BuOH and $H_2O$ fractions of the C. chinensis extract showed antibacterial activity against B. cereus highly. Conclusions : C. sappan and C. chinensis extract efficiently inhibited the growth of B. cereus and V. parahaemolyticus.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.172-179
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• 2016

Purpose: Bacillus cereus has been reported as the cause of nosocomial infections in cancer patients. In our pediatric cancer ward, a sudden rise in the number of patients with B. cereus bacteremia was observed in 2013 to 2014. This study was performed to investigate the molecular epidemiology of increased B. cereus bacteremia cases in our center. Methods: Pediatric cancer patients who developed B. cereus bacteremia were identified from January 2001 to June 2014. The B. cereus bacteremia in this study was defined as a case in which at least one B. cereus identified in blood cultures, regardless of true bacteremia. Available isolates were further tested by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis. A retrospective chart review was performed. Results: Nineteen patients developed B. cereus bacteremia during the study period. However, in 2013, a sudden increase in the number of patients with B. cereus bacteremia was observed. In addition, three patients developed B. cereus bacteremia within 1 week in July and the other three patients within 1 week in October, respectively, during emergency room renovation. However, MLST analysis revealed different sequence types without consistent patterns. Before 2013, five tested isolates were ST18, ST26, ST177, and ST147-like type, and ST219-like type. Isolates from 2013 were ST18, ST73, ST90, ST427, ST784, ST34-like type, and ST130-like type. Conclusions: MLST analyses showed variable ST distribution of B. cereus isolates. Based on this study, there was no significant evidence suggesting a true outbreak caused by a single ST among patients who developed B. cereus bacteremia.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2011

The growth profile of Bacillus cereus in ready-to-eat (RTE) food products of animal origin was examined under different temperature and incubation conditions. In sandwiches and Kimbab, B. cereus did not grow or exhibited only minimal growth at 4 and $10^{\circ}C$, but it grew rapidly at ambient temperature. In sandwiches, B. cereus did not grow efficiently at $25^{\circ}C$, however, in ham, the main ingredient of sandwiches, B. cereus growth was observed at the same temperature, with bacterial levels reaching 7.94 Log CFU/g after incubation for 24 h at $25^{\circ}C$. Toxigenicity of B. cereus was observed only at temperatures above $25^{\circ}C$. In Kimbab, B. cereus produced toxin after 9 h at $30^{\circ}C$ and after 12 h at $25^{\circ}C$. Ingredients of sandwiches and Kimbab were collected from 3 different Korean food-processing companies to investigate the source of contamination by B. cereus. Among the 13 tested food items, 6 items including ham were found to be contaminated with B. cereus. Of these ingredients, B. cereus isolates from 3 items produced enterotoxins. None of these isolates harbored the emetic toxin-producing gene. The findings of the present study can be used for risk assessments of food products, including ham and cheese, contaminated with B. cereus.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.1035-1040
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• 2016

This study investigated the prevalence of foodborne pathogens and the bacterial community of traditional Doenjang collected from a longevity area in Korea as well as the antagonistic effect of traditional Doenjang isolates against Bacillus cereus to estimate the microbiological safety of traditional Doenjang. Aerobic bacteria showed $10^6{\sim}10^9CFU/g$, whereas coliform bacteria was not detected. Foodborne pathogens were not detected except B. cereus, which was detected in seven samples out of 10 Doenjang samples. A total of 327 isolates were identified from traditional Doenjang. The isolates consisted of Bacillus subtilis 155 (47.4%), Bacillus licheniformis 68 (20.8%), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 46 (14.1%), and Bacillus pumilus 18 (5.5%). Antagonistic effect against B. cereus was detected in 20 (6.1%) of 327 isolates, which consisted of B. subtilis (12 strains), B. amyloliquefaciens (5 strains), and B. licheniformis (3 strains). The inhibitory zone for the antagonistic effect was 9.0~12.0 mm in diameter. Although a small amount of traditional Doenjang was tested in this study, these results indicated that the potential risk of B. cereus in traditional Doenjang is lower than generally presumed. It is necessary to monitor the antagonistic effect of traditional Doenjang isolates against B. cereus.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.458-461
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• 2006

To determine whether the toxicity of Bacillus cereus would be seen in human cell lines and mice, we screened B. cereus B-38B, B. cereus B-50B, and B. cereus KCCM40935 for genes that coded for 5 enterotoxins using the polymerase chain reaction and cultivated them for 17 hr, by whose time they had grown to $10^7-10^8$ colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter. Cell-free supernatant was added to make up 1% of the total reaction solution. Human cells from normal lung, lung carcinoma, embryonic kidney, and cervical adenocarcinoma cell lines were grown in culture. The cytotoxicity induced by adding the reaction solution was indicated by cell death rates of 0 to 70%, depending on the bacterial strain involved and the cell line. A lethality of 20% was observed when B. cereus cultures containing $10^7-10^8$ viable cells were administrated orally to mice. Therefore, the culture of B. cereus containing $10^7-10^8$ viable cells seems to have high cytotoxicity on human cell lines and lethality on mice.

• Journal of Science Criminal Investigation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2017

In the forensic microbiology laboratories, microorganism analyses from food are requested. There have been several cases of Bacillus cereus isolated from the samples requested to the National Forensic Service. B. cereus is an important pathogenic bacterium which can cause food-borne outbreaks. Therefore, we isolated B. cereus from anchovy aekjeot recently requested for microbial examination and identified using MSId based on the 16S rDNA sequence and real-time PCR method. We also conducted PCR for detection of diarrheal toxin genes and an emetic toxin gene and found the presence of nheABC, bceT and entFM diarrheal toxin genes in the B. cereus isolate. There are several clinically important food-poisoning bacteria that should be noted during inspection. In particular, B. cereus can cause food poisoning even when cooked foods are ingested, because B. cereus forms endo-spore which confers strong environmental resistance and heat resistance to the bacteria, and the bacterial emetic toxin also has heat resistance. Here we highlight the importance to distinguish clinically important bacteria such as B. cereus from food specimens, and we expect this study will provide procedures for identification of B. cereus and detection of the bacterial toxin genes for future cases in the forensic microbiology laboratories.