Prevalence of bacteriocin genes in strains isolated from fecal samples of healthy individuals and their inhibitory effect against foodborne pathogens.

Objectives: Foodborne diseases are considered as an important public health issue. The purpose of the current study was to isolate spp. strains from fecal samples, investigate their antimicrobial properties, and assess the expression of genes encoding bacteriocin in co-culture of with enteric pathogens.

Materials And Methods: Fecal samples of healthy people were collected. Human colon adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 was used to examine strains adherence capacity. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to determine bacteriocin-encoding genes expression in co-culture of the selected strain with , and two diarrheagenic serotypes during 4, 6, and 24 hr of incubation.

Results: The selected strain was able to inhibit four foodborne pathogens in both methods. No.14 exhibited the highest ability to adhere to Caco-2 cells. In this study, , and J genes of No.14 were upregulated in co-culture of No.14 with diarrheagenic serotypes. In addition, acd, Lactacin F, sak P, pln J, pln EF, and pln NC8 genes as well as and genes mRNA levels were significantly increased in co-culture of No.14 with and respectively, during 24 hrs of incubation.

Conclusion: Other studied genes were down-regulated during the incubation time. The selected strains could be served as alternative antimicrobial agents against pathogens which could contaminate foodstuffs and are responsible for human diseases.