A study on antibiotic resistance gene degradation in fresh produce using peracetic acid combined with an ultraviolet-C light-emitting-diode

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of peracetic acid (PAA)/ultraviolet-C light-emitting-diode (UVC-LED) treat-ment on the deactivation and degradation of the antibiotic-resistance gene (ARG). The deactivation rate constant for the ampicillin-resistance (ampR) gene encoded in plasmid pUC19 was measured using the transformation assay. The deactivation rate constant of pUC19 treated by PAA (10-50 ppm)/UVC-LED grew with an increasing concentration of PAA. At a PAA of 50 ppm, the deactivation rate constant reached its maximum: 0.16 cm2/mJ. Degradation rate constants for four ampR amplicons (192, 400, 603, and 851 bp) were obtained via the quan-titative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The average degradation rate constant for the pUC19 plasmid was 1.45 x 10-1 cm2/mJ with UVC-LED treatment, and 1.17 cm2/mJ with the PAA/UVC-LED treatment. Using PAA/ UVC-LED, the deactivation rates for the ampR gene on the tomato and cabbage surfaces were 2.69 x 10-2 cm2/ mJ and 2.48 x 10-2 cm2/mJ, respectively. Through color quality evaluation for each fresh produce confirmed that ARG could be effectively controlled using the PAA/UVC-LED treatment without affecting the color quality of fresh produce. In this study, the ARG control effect using the PAA/UVC-LED treatment was identified both in water and on fresh produce surfaces, which have a high risk of ARG exposure.