The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage

Fish is an essential lean protein source worldwide. Unfortunately, fresh fish food products deteriorate rapidly due to microbial spoilage. With consumers’ growing concerns about using chemical preservatives, we propose using natural preservatives as safer alternatives to prevent microbial spoilage....

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Main Authors: Jung-Lim Lee, Gregory Yourek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Microorganisms
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/2/244
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author Jung-Lim Lee
Gregory Yourek
author_facet Jung-Lim Lee
Gregory Yourek
author_sort Jung-Lim Lee
collection DOAJ
description Fish is an essential lean protein source worldwide. Unfortunately, fresh fish food products deteriorate rapidly due to microbial spoilage. With consumers’ growing concerns about using chemical preservatives, we propose using natural preservatives as safer alternatives to prevent microbial spoilage. In this study, we used Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) metagenomics to study microbiomes on catfish fillets at early (day one for all samples), middle (day seven for control store-bought and aquaculture-raised samples, day nine for other treatment store-bought samples, and day eleven for other treatment aquaculture-raised samples), and late (day fifteen for all store-bought, day eleven for control aquaculture-raised samples, and day twenty-seven for other treatment aquaculture-raised samples) points. Store-bought and aquaculture-raised catfish were treated individually with natural preservatives (vinegar, lemon, and grapefruit seed [GSE]). We observed bacterial populations and sequenced 16S NGS libraries of catfish microbes. Vinegar treatment showed the greatest suppression of bacterial growth in both groups, and GSE and lemon treatment had similar levels of suppression in the mid and late points (−4 to −5 Log CFU/g vinegar and −0.1 to −4 Log CFU/g other treatments in aquaculture and −1 to −2 Log CFU/g vinegar and −0.2 to −0.5 Log CFU/g other treatments in store-bought). Aquaculture-raised vinegar treatment samples had similar proportional taxonomy abundance values through storage duration. <i>Pseudomonas</i>, <i>Janthinobacterium</i>, and <i>Camobacteriaceae</i> were the dominant bacteria species in the early point for store-bought fish. Still, <i>Pseudomonas</i> was suppressed by vinegar treatment in the middle point, which allowed for less biased relative abundance compared to other treatments. <i>Chryseobacterium</i>, CK-1C4-19, and <i>Cetobacterium</i> were the dominant bacteria species for early point treatments in aquaculture-raised fish. Still, they remained the predominant bacteria for only aquaculture-raised vinegar samples in the middle and late points, which allowed for a similar relative abundance to fresh catfish. Meanwhile, <i>Pseudomonas</i> in most lemon and GSE samples became the dominant species at a later point. This study provides a better understanding of bacterial spoilage of catfish during storage. Additionally, we showed that natural preservative treatments can effectively extend the shelf-life of fishery products.
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spelling doaj-art-27fb0b8a33de4b55add22ab287c6da7c2025-08-20T02:04:02ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072025-01-0113224410.3390/microorganisms13020244The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated StorageJung-Lim Lee0Gregory Yourek1Food Science and Biotechnology Program, Food Microbiology Laboratory, College of Agriculture Science and Technology, Delaware State University, Dover, DE 19901, USADelaware Nucleotide Analysis (DNA) Core Center, Delaware State University, Dover, DE 19901, USAFish is an essential lean protein source worldwide. Unfortunately, fresh fish food products deteriorate rapidly due to microbial spoilage. With consumers’ growing concerns about using chemical preservatives, we propose using natural preservatives as safer alternatives to prevent microbial spoilage. In this study, we used Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) metagenomics to study microbiomes on catfish fillets at early (day one for all samples), middle (day seven for control store-bought and aquaculture-raised samples, day nine for other treatment store-bought samples, and day eleven for other treatment aquaculture-raised samples), and late (day fifteen for all store-bought, day eleven for control aquaculture-raised samples, and day twenty-seven for other treatment aquaculture-raised samples) points. Store-bought and aquaculture-raised catfish were treated individually with natural preservatives (vinegar, lemon, and grapefruit seed [GSE]). We observed bacterial populations and sequenced 16S NGS libraries of catfish microbes. Vinegar treatment showed the greatest suppression of bacterial growth in both groups, and GSE and lemon treatment had similar levels of suppression in the mid and late points (−4 to −5 Log CFU/g vinegar and −0.1 to −4 Log CFU/g other treatments in aquaculture and −1 to −2 Log CFU/g vinegar and −0.2 to −0.5 Log CFU/g other treatments in store-bought). Aquaculture-raised vinegar treatment samples had similar proportional taxonomy abundance values through storage duration. <i>Pseudomonas</i>, <i>Janthinobacterium</i>, and <i>Camobacteriaceae</i> were the dominant bacteria species in the early point for store-bought fish. Still, <i>Pseudomonas</i> was suppressed by vinegar treatment in the middle point, which allowed for less biased relative abundance compared to other treatments. <i>Chryseobacterium</i>, CK-1C4-19, and <i>Cetobacterium</i> were the dominant bacteria species for early point treatments in aquaculture-raised fish. Still, they remained the predominant bacteria for only aquaculture-raised vinegar samples in the middle and late points, which allowed for a similar relative abundance to fresh catfish. Meanwhile, <i>Pseudomonas</i> in most lemon and GSE samples became the dominant species at a later point. This study provides a better understanding of bacterial spoilage of catfish during storage. Additionally, we showed that natural preservative treatments can effectively extend the shelf-life of fishery products.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/2/244catfish16S metagenomicsmicrobial spoilagefood qualityvinegarlemon
spellingShingle Jung-Lim Lee
Gregory Yourek
The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
Microorganisms
catfish
16S metagenomics
microbial spoilage
food quality
vinegar
lemon
title The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
title_full The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
title_fullStr The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
title_full_unstemmed The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
title_short The Microbiome of Catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>) Treated with Natural Preservatives During Refrigerated Storage
title_sort microbiome of catfish i ictalurus punctatus i treated with natural preservatives during refrigerated storage
topic catfish
16S metagenomics
microbial spoilage
food quality
vinegar
lemon
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/2/244
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