A nisin-mediated organic-inorganic hybrid for the inhibition of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in apple juice

Juice spoilage caused by microbial contamination has occurred worldwide, among these microorganisms, Alicyclobacillus spp. have received widespread attention owing to the thermos-acidophilic ability. To develop new non-thermal method, antibacterial peptide-mediated organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers were designed to control Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in this work. Investigation on antibacterial ability demonstrated that the constructed Nisin@NFs damaged bacterial membrane and caused the leakage of intracellular substance. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) against A. acidoterrestris were 4.0 μg mL −1 and 32.0 μg mL −1 , respectively. Besides, investigation on in vitro hemolysis assay and in vivo zebrafish toxicity evaluation implied that the synthesized nanoflowers displayed negligible adverse effects on biocompatibility. Further application researches indicated that Nisin@NFs possessed effective antibacterial ability against A. acidoterrestris in apple juice without affecting the juice quality. The construction of peptide-mediated organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers provided a new idea for the control of A. acidoterrestris contamination in the juice industry.