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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3159-3165, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Modeling of the Competitive Growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Lactococcus lactis in Vegetable Broth

Frederick Breidt* and Henry P. Fleming

Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Department of Food Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7624

Received 9 March 1998/Accepted 10 June 1998

Current mathematical models used by food microbiologists do not address the issue of competitive growth in mixed cultures of bacteria. We developed a mathematical model which consists of a system of nonlinear differential equations describing the growth of competing bacterial cell cultures. In this model, bacterial cell growth is limited by the accumulation of protonated lactic acid and decreasing pH. In our experimental system, pure and mixed cultures of Lactococcus lactis and Listeria monocytogenes were grown in a vegetable broth medium. Predictions of the model indicate that pH is the primary factor that limits the growth of L. monocytogenes in competition with a strain of L. lactis which does not produce the bacteriocin nisin. The model also predicts the values of parameters that affect the growth and death of the competing populations. Further development of this model will incorporate the effects of additional inhibitors, such as bacteriocins, and may aid in the selection of lactic acid bacterium cultures for use in competitive inhibition of pathogens in minimally processed foods.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Food Science, Campus Box 7624, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624. Phone: (919) 515-2979. Fax: (919) 856-4361. E-mail: breidt{at}ncsu.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3159-3165, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.