action of nisin on beer spoilage lactic acid bacteria

Within one minute of adding nisin to suspensions of Lactobacilli clumping of cells was observed. This happened with all the strains assayed, irrespective of their sensitivity or resistance to nisin. There was, however, no evidence of cell lysis. Two different assays for cell viability were used to show that the vast majority of cells of sensitive strains were killed within one minute of contact with nisin. The time needed to kill all the cells depended on the concentrations of both nisin and cells. One strain was more resistant and only 50–60% of the cells died within one minute of nisin addition. Using an ATP‐bioluminescence assay it was shown that the addition of nisin to both Lactobacilli and Pediococci caused a rapid fall in intracellular ATP levels, which was reflected in a simultaneous appearance of ATP in the extracellular medium. Actively growing cells lost ATP more rapidly than did those in stationary phase. The amount of intracellular ATP lost was affected both by the concentration of nisin used and the sensitivity of the bacteria. It appears that an initial effect of nisin is to make the cell membrane ‘leaky’ as happens with many antibiotics, yeast killer factors (zymocins), colicins, and other gram‐positive bacteriocins.