Inactivation of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and degradation and removal of cellulose from STEC surfaces by using selected enzymatic and chemical treatments.

Some Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains produce extracellular cellulose, a long polymer of glucose with β-1-4 glycosidic bonds. This study evaluated the efficacies of selected enzymatic and chemical treatments in inactivating STEC and degrading/removing the cellulose on STEC surfaces. Six cellulose-producing STEC strains were treated with cellulase (0.51 to 3.83 U/15 ml), acetic and lactic acids (2 and 4%), as well as an acidic and alkaline sanitizer (manufacturers' recommended concentrations) under appropriate conditions. Following each treatment, residual amounts of cellulose and surviving populations of STEC were determined. Treatments with acetic and lactic acids significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the populations of STEC, and those with lactic acid also significantly decreased the amounts of cellulose on STEC. The residual amounts of cellulose on STEC positively correlated to the surviving populations of STEC after the treatments with the organic acids (r = 0.64 to 0.94), and the significance of the correlations ranged from 83 to 99%. Treatments with cellulase and the sanitizers both degraded cellulose. However, treatments with cellulase had no influence on the fate of STEC, and those with the sanitizers reduced STEC cell populations to undetectable levels. Thus, the correlations between the residual amounts of cellulose and the surviving populations of STEC caused by these two treatments were not observed. The results suggest that the selected enzymatic and chemical agents degraded and removed the cellulose on STEC surfaces, and the treatments with organic acids and sanitizers also inactivated STEC cells. The amounts of cellulose produced by STEC strains appear to affect their susceptibilities to certain sanitizing treatments.