eng URI http://hdl.handle.net/10795/2492 βιολογία μικροοργανισμός προϊόν διατροφής υγιεινή τροφίμων Food spoilage may be defined as a process that renders a product undesirable or unacceptable for consumption and is the outcome of the biochemical activity of a microbial community that eventually dominates according to the prevailing ecological determinants. Although limited information are reported, this activity has been attributed to quorum sensing (QS). Consequently, the potential role of cell-to-cell communication in food spoilage and food safety should be more extensively elucidated. Such information would be helpful in designing approaches for manipulating these communication systems, thereby reducing or preventing, for instance, spoilage reactions or even controlling the expression of virulence factors. Due to the many reports in the literature on the fundamental features of QS, e.g., chemistry and definitions of QS compounds, in this minireview, we only allude to the types and chemistry of QS signaling molecules per se and to the (bioassay-based) methods of their detection and quantification, avoiding extensive documentation. Conversely, we attempt to provide insights into (i) the role of QS in food spoilage, (ii) the factors that may quench the activity of QS in foods and review the potential QS inhibitors that might “mislead” the bacterial coordination of spoilage activities and thus may be used as biopreservatives, and (iii) the future experimental approaches that need to be undertaken in order to explore the “gray” or “black” areas of QS, increase our understanding of how QS affects microbial behavior in foods, and assist in finding answers as to how we can exploit QS for the benefit of food preservation and food safety. 11 pp. LOMv1.0 creator LOMv1.0 publisher LOMv1.0 Project Deliverable Number Π2_a - Δ1.1 LOMv1.0 Project Final Beneficiary LOMv1.0 Project Executing Organisation 2012-06-15 Digital Library of the Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning" abstract types Text Quorum sensing Food microbiology Food spoilage Cell-to-cell communication Bacterial communication Food processing Microbial ecology Minireview http://journals.asm.org/search?fulltext=10.1128%2FAEM.00468-12&journalcode=aac|aem|cdli|cmr|eukcell|iai|jb|jcm|jvi|mbio|mcb|mmbr&submit=yes&x=0&y=0 253690 application/pdf http://repository.edulll.gr/edulll/bitstream/10795/2492/2/2492_Deliverable%20%28%ce%a02_a%20-%20%ce%941.1%29%20Thalis%20BIOFILM%20MIS_380229.pdf URI http://hdl.handle.net/10795/2492 LOMv1.0creator 2016-04-07T11:40:52Z LOMv1.0validator 2016-04-07T11:40:52Z LOMv1.0 gre no no Copyright EYD-EPEDBM (Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning")