title: Functionalized polycaprolactam as an active food package for antibiofilm activity and extended shelf life.
abstract: Papain is covalently crosslinked on polycaprolactam and tested as a wrapper for packaging cottage cheese, against E. coli biofilm. The bacterial count on neat polycaprolactam (NP) was 50×10(6)/ml on the 5th day which dramatically increased to 300×10(6) colony forming units (CFU)/ml by the end of 30th day. The corresponding CFU/ml on papain functionalized polycaprolactam (FP) was 10×10(2) on 5th day and 20×10(2) by the end of 30th day. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) analysis of biofilm on NP showed the presence of polysaccharide, protein, lipid and metabolites which was three times reduced on FP. FT Raman spectroscopy showed the effect of papain on functional groups such as hydroxyl, amino, carbonyl, phosphoryl and aliphatic, leading to the inhibition of the biofilm. Motility, hydrophobicity and zeta potential of E. coli on NP and FP were 10.67 and 5.65 μm/s/V/cm; 88 and 20%; 8.93±2.09 and 2.65±0.52 mV respectively, thereby decreasing the biofilm forming ability of E. coli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of BioSciences Building, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Veluchamy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prabhawathi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of BioSciences Building, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Thulasinathan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boobalan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of BioSciences Building, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Ponnurengam Malliappan
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of BioSciences Building, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India. Electronic address: mukeshd@iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: Mukesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doble
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D002209:Caprolactam / Q000737:chemistry*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects*; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D002209:Caprolactam; C000362:capron
keywords: Biofilm; Confocal laser scanning microscopy; FT-Raman spectroscopy; Motility; Polycaprolactam