Because listeriosis is one of the deadliest foodborne diseases, controlling and eradicating Listeria monocytogenes biofilms is a serious challenge for food safety. Biofilms (24 h old) formed on polystyrene by a L. monocytogenes strain of food origin were exposed for a further 24 h to 12 different concentrations (from 10 0 to 10 11 PFU/mL) of the bacteriophage P100 (Listex P100). The structural parameters of biofilms were studied by using confocal laser scanning microscopy and digital image analysis. The biovolume in the observation field (14,121 lm 2 ) of control (untreated) biofilms was 237,333.1 ± 2,692.6 lm 3 . The biomass of treated biofilms ranged from 164.7 ± 89.0 lm 3 (biofilms exposed to 10 10 PFU/mL) to 231,170.5 ± 15,142.0 lm 3 (10 0 PFU/ mL). The lowest biomass was achieved after treatment with 10 8 PFU/mL, with no further decrease in biovolume when higher phage concentrations were used. A strong (P < 0.001) correlation was found between phage concentration (log units) and biovolume ( 0.965), surface coverage ( 0.939), roughness (0.976), maximum thickness ( 0.853), and average thickness ( 0.965). Findings from this research suggest that bacteriophage P100 at concentrations equal to or greater than 8 log PFU/mL successfully removes L. monocytogenes biofilms from polystyrene surfaces.
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Rodríguez-Melcón, C., Capita, R., García-Fernández, C., & Alonso-Calleja, C. (2018). Effects of bacteriophage P100 at different concentrations on the structural parameters of listeria monocytogenes biofilms. Journal of Food Protection, 81(12), 2040–2044. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-18-177