Starch nanoparticles as a new ice crystal nucleator in Lactobacillus bulgaricus CICC 6097 cryoprotection

Sun Zihan; Liu Lu; Wang Tao; Zhang Bolin; Zhao Hongfei

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126395

Starch nanoparticles as a new ice crystal nucleator in Lactobacillus bulgaricus CICC 6097 cryoprotection

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 17:251:126395. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126395. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sun Zihan¹, Liu Lu¹, Wang Tao¹, Zhang Bolin¹, Zhao Hongfei²

Affiliations

¹ College of Biological Science & Biotechnology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Forest Food Processing and Safety, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
² College of Biological Science & Biotechnology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Forest Food Processing and Safety, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: zhaohf518@163.com.

PMID: 37595719
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126395

Abstract

This work aimed at studying the cryoprotective effect of starch nanoparticles (SNPs) as ice nucleators on Lactobacillus bulgaricus CICC 6097 and exploring the protective mechanism. SNPs with a diameter of 363 nm were obtained, which possessed special properties to enhance ice nucleation and blunt ice crystals edges, and can be wrapped around the surface of bacteria form a protective barrier, thus maintaining the integrity of cell membranes and improving the survivability of L. bulgaricus CICC 6097 from 36.09% to 75.56%. However, SNCs solution formed ice crystals with obvious spikes during freezing, which was harmful to bacteria survival. Therefore, SNPs addition is a possible strategy for increasing viable cell counts during freezing. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to demonstrate the cryoprotective effect of ice nucleator on lactic acid bacteria.

Keywords: Ice crystal nucleator; Lactobacillus bulgaricus CICC 6097; Starch nanoparticles.