The effect of high hydrostatic pressure on the activity of intracellular enzymes of Listeria monocytogenes.

The effect of high hydrostatic pressure (100-550 MPa, 15 min, ambient temperature) on the activity of 13 metabolic enzymes produced by all three strains of Listeria monocytogenes (NCTC 11994, a poultry isolate and Scott A) was examined using gel electrophoresis. The enzymes assayed exhibited a wide variation in barotolerance. The pressure resistance of each particular enzyme was not dependent on the strain from which it was derived. This would seem to indicate that these enzymes were not a determining factor in relation to previously observed differences in the overall pressure resistance of the three strains.