ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Antibiotic Resistance and New Antimicrobial drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1612638
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Light-Based Technologies for Antimicrobial ControlView all articles
The impact of sublethal antimicrobial blue light on lipidomic changes of Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium
Provisionally accepted
Jiaxin Wu1Ming Huang1Shuyan Wu2
Maomao Zeng1
Xiujuan Zhang1
Xiaoying Sun1Shuiping Wang3
Xiaoyuan Wang1
Xiaoqing Hu1*- 1Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2AgResearch Ltd, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand
- 3Guangzhou Yuehui Cosmetics Co. Ltd, Guangzhou, China
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Antimicrobial blue light (aBL) is an effective non-thermal disinfection method against foodborne bacterial pathogens. While aBL-induced oxidative stress is known to cause cell membrane damage, its specific effects on bacterial lipid composition remain poorly understood. This study investigated aBL-triggered lipidomic changes in two major foodborne pathogens (Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium). We identified more than 70 lipid species across 6 classes, with over 50% showing significant variations in profile, intensity, and degree of unsaturation following aBL exposure. Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) species exhibited the most pronounced alterations. Notably, both strains demonstrated decreased unsaturated lipid intensity alongside increased malondialdehyde levels—a key oxidative stress marker. These findings provide crucial insights into bacterial lipid dynamics under aBL stress and advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind aBL-mediated bacterial inactivation.
Keywords: Antimicrobial blue light, lipidomics, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Unsaturated lipids
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 26 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Huang, Wu, Zeng, Zhang, Sun, Wang, Wang and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoqing Hu, hu.x.q@hotmail.com
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