2015 journal article

Mitochondrial DNA Fragmentation to Monitor Processing Parameters in High Acid, Plant-Derived Foods

Journal of Food Science, 80(12), M2892–M2898.

By: J. Caldwell n, I. Perez-Diaz *, K. Harris  n, H. Hassan n , J. Simunovic n  & K. Sandeep n 

author keywords: high-acid foods; mitochondrial DNA; quantitative PCR; thermal processing
MeSH headings : Acids; Bacteria / growth & development; Cucumis sativus / genetics; DNA Fragmentation; DNA, Mitochondrial; DNA, Plant / analysis; Fermentation; Food Analysis; Food Handling / methods; Food Microbiology; Food Preservation / methods; Fruit; Genes, Mitochondrial; Genes, Plant; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Solanum lycopersicum / genetics; Pasteurization; Plants, Edible / genetics; Temperature; Vegetables
topics (OpenAlex): Identification and Quantification in Food; Meat and Animal Product Quality; Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications
TL;DR: MtDNA fragmentation was shown to be a potential new tool to characterize low temperature (<100 °C) high acid processes (pH < 4.6), nonthermal processes such as vegetable fermentation and holding times of acidified, plant-derived products. (via Semantic Scholar)
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Abstract Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragmentation was assessed in acidified foods. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, C t values measured from fresh, fermented, pasteurized, and stored cucumber mtDNA were determined to be significantly different ( P &gt; 0.05) based on processing and shelf‐life. This indicated that the combination of lower temperature thermal processes (hot‐fill at 75 °C for 15 min) and acidified conditions (pH = 3.8) was sufficient to cause mtDNA fragmentation. In studies modeling high acid juices, pasteurization (96 °C, 0 to 24 min) of tomato serum produced C t values which had high correlation to time‐temperature treatment. Primers producing longer amplicons (approximately 1 kb) targeting the same mitochondrial gene gave greater sensitivity in correlating time‐temperature treatments to C t values. Lab‐scale pasteurization studies using C t values derived from the longer amplicon differentiated between heat treatments of tomato serum (95 °C for &lt;2 min). MtDNA fragmentation was shown to be a potential new tool to characterize low temperature (&lt;100 °C) high acid processes (pH &lt; 4.6), nonthermal processes such as vegetable fermentation and holding times of acidified, plant‐derived products.