title: Impact of Pathogen Population Heterogeneity and Stress-Resistant Variants on Food Safety.
abstract: This review elucidates the state-of-the-art knowledge about pathogen population heterogeneity and describes the genotypic and phenotypic analyses of persister subpopulations and stress-resistant variants. The molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of persister phenotypes and genetic variants are identified. Zooming in on Listeria monocytogenes, a comparative whole-genome sequence analysis of wild types and variants that enabled the identification of mutations in variants obtained after a single exposure to lethal food-relevant stresses is described. Genotypic and phenotypic features are compared to those for persistent strains isolated from food processing environments. Inactivation kinetics, models used for fitting, and the concept of kinetic modeling-based schemes for detection of variants are presented. Furthermore, robustness and fitness parameters of L. monocytogenes wild type and variants are used to model their performance in food chains. Finally, the impact of stress-resistant variants and persistence in food processing environments on food safety is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; email: tjakko.abee@wur.nl.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; email: tjakko.abee@wur.nl.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koomen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; email: tjakko.abee@wur.nl.
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Metselaar
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; email: tjakko.abee@wur.nl.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Zwietering
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; email: tjakko.abee@wur.nl.
authors.forename: H M W
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: den Besten
mesh_terms: D005511:Food Handling / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005516:Food Microbiology; D059022:Food Safety; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D013312:Stress, Physiological
keywords: Listeria monocytogenes; food processing; growth kinetics; systems biology