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Metatranscriptomic analysis of modified atmosphere packaged poultry meat enables prediction of Brochothrix thermosphacta and Carnobacterium divergens in situ metabolism

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Abstract

In this study, in situ-expressed metabolic routes of Brochothrix (B.) thermosphacta and Carnobacterium (C.) divergens were evaluated based on a metatranscriptomic dataset from bacteria growing on MAP chicken meat (O2/CO2; N2/CO2). Both species exhibited no (C. divergens) or minor transcription regulation (B. thermosphacta) within their main metabolic routes in response to different atmospheres. Both employ pathways related to glucose and ribose. Gluconeogenesis from lipid-borne glycerol is active in the progressing lack of carbohydrates. Pyruvate fates in both species comprise lactate, ethanol, acetate, CO2, formate, C4-compounds and H2O2 (only B. thermosphacta). Both species express genes for a minimal aerobic respiratory chain, but do not possess the genetic setting for a functional citric acid cycle. While products of carbohydrate and glycerol metabolism display mild to medium sensorial off-characteristics, predicted end products of their amino acid metabolism comprise, e.g., isobutyrate and isovalerate (B. thermosphacta) or cadaverine and tyramine (C. divergens) as potent spoilage compounds.

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Acknowledgements

A part this work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy via the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF) and the Industry Association for Food Technology and Packaging (IVLV); projects number AiF 17803N and 19993N.

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  1. Jürgen Behr

    Present address: Leibniz-Institut für Lebensmittel-Systembiologie an der Technischen Universität München, Lise-Meitner-Straße 34, 85354, Freising, Germany

  2. Linda Höll and Maik Hilgarth: joint first authorship for equal contribution.

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  1. Lehrstuhl für Technische Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 4, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Linda Höll, Maik Hilgarth, Andreas J. Geissler, Jürgen Behr & Rudi F. Vogel

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203_2020_1914_MOESM1_ESM.pptx

Relative abundance of taxa within the different samples based on 16S rRNA mapping (taxa with > 2% in any of the samples are shown). Photobacterium (purple), Brochothrix (turquoise), Carnobacterium (orange), Other Vibrionaceae (Vibrio, Aliivibrio, Enterovibrio) (dark purple), Enterococcus (dark blue), Others (grey) (PPTX 38 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM2_ESM.pptx

Frequency distribution of the normalized gene counts dependent of mean values of B. thermosphacta (A) and C. divergens (B) (PPTX 41 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM3_ESM.pptx

Visualization of gene expression analysis of B. thermosphacta in dependence of the upper 10% of the mean values of normalized counts (473 genes). Genes were considered as differentially expressed (marked red) in O2/CO2 MAP or in N2/CO2 MAP with a log2 fold change of > 1 or < -1, respectively (PPTX 82 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM4_ESM.pptx

: Visualization of gene expression analysis of C. divergens in dependence of the upper 10% of the mean values of normalized counts (391 genes). Genes were considered as differentially expressed (marked red) in O2/CO2 MAP or in N2/CO2 MAP with a log2 fold change of > 1 or < -1, respectively (PPTX 73 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM5_ESM.xlsx

16S rRNA bowtie alignment for creation of a genome selection for mapping of transcripts (at least 5 paired-end properly paired reads). (XLSX 18 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM6_ESM.xlsx

The upper 10% normalized gene counts of B. thermosphacta with respective KEGG orthology, annotation, base mean, log2 fold change and p value (XLSX 33 kb)

203_2020_1914_MOESM7_ESM.xlsx

The upper 10% normalized gene counts of C. divergens with respective KEGG orthology, annotation, base mean, log2 fold change and p-value (XLSX 37 kb)

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Höll, L., Hilgarth, M., Geissler, A.J. et al. Metatranscriptomic analysis of modified atmosphere packaged poultry meat enables prediction of Brochothrix thermosphacta and Carnobacterium divergens in situ metabolism. Arch Microbiol 202, 1945–1955 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-020-01914-y

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