抄録
To examine whether ATP in microbial cells could survive a thermal treatment, changes in microbial ATP content during the heat treatment were studied with a bioluminescent assay. The ATP content inEscherichia coilcell lysate did not decrease when heated at 90°C for up to 10 min. When cell suspensions ofE. coli, Klebsiellasp., Staphylococcus aureus, andSaccharomyces cerevisiaewere heated at 58°C, the content of the whole cell suspension ATP, ATPw, slightly decreased to a certain level. The viable cells of the suspensions measured by a plate count method were rapidly inactivated. Changes in the contents of ATPW, ATPc (cell fraction), and ATPf (cell filtrate fraction) of microbial cell suspensions during the heating process at 58°C were then studied. The contents of ATPw and ATPc gradually decreased for all organisms. The increase in the contents of ATPf forE. coliandKlebsiellasp. showed that the intracellular ATP would leak out. WhenE. coilcells were heated at various temperatures of 66-54°C, the content of ATPw decreased to a similar level at these temperatures. The contents of ATPc and ATPf approached to certain levels, which were temperature dependent.
