微生物群体感应系统及其在现代食品工业中应用的研究进展

群体感应系统是一种广泛存在于多种微生物中的基因表达调控系统,能够借由对特定信号分子的密度感知实现对相关基因的靶向调控,从而使微生物展现出与低密度条件时截然不同的群体行为以及特性,以此来应对环境的变化。由于群体感应调控存在明显的生物广泛性、机制独特性以及作用高效性,使其成为近年来微生物领域中的研究热点。微生物作为食品工业中的重要研究对象,在食品保鲜,益生菌生产,食品发酵,绿色生物合成,微生物防腐剂及风味剂生产等研究领域中均发挥着至关重要的作用。明悉群体感应系统在上述领域中的作用,有助于推动微生物在食品生产中的进一步应用。着重介绍了群体感应的主要类型及其相关调控机制,并对其在食品腐败中的重要作用以及在未来食品工业中的潜在应用进行了概述；对未来群体感应在食品研究领域的发展进行了展望,旨在为以群体感应为基础的新型食品相关技术的发展提供理论依据。

Research Progress on Microbial Quorum Sensing System and Its Application in Modern Food Industry

The quorum sensing system is a gene expression regulation system widely existing in a variety of microorganisms. It can realize the targeted regulation of related genes by the density perception of specific signal molecules, and exhibit different behaviors and characteristics in comparison with that in low density conditions, which helps to adapt the changes of environment. Due to the obvious biological universality, unique mechanism and high efficiency of quorum sensing regulation, it had become a research hotspot in the field of microbiology in recent years. As an important research object in food industry, microorganisms played important roles in research fields such as food preservation, probiotics production, food fermentation, green biosynthesis, microbial preservative and flavor agent production, etc. Therefore, to clarify the role of quorum sensing system in the above fields might be helpful to promote the further development of microorganisms in food production. This review focused on the main types of quorum sensing and the related regulatory mechanisms and summarized its important role in food spoilage and potential application in the future food industry. The future development of quorum sensing in food research was prospected, which might provide theoretical basis for the development of new food related technology based on quorum sensing.