Survival and Death of Microorganisms at High and Low Temperatures

(Effect of high temperature on the survival of microorganisms):

– Thermal death point (TDP): lowest temperature at which all cells in a culture
are killed in 10 min. Lowest temperature at which a microbial suspension is killed
in 10 minutes
– Thermal death time (TDT): - time during which all cells in a culture are killed.
Shortest time needed to kill all organisms in a suspension at a specified
temperature under specific conditions.
– Decimal reduction time (D value): Minutes to kill 90% of a population at a
given temperature. The time required to reduce a population of microbes by 90%
(a 10-fold, or one decimal, reduction) at a specified temperature and specified
conditions
– Q10 values: The change in enzyme activity caused by a 10°C rise is known
as the 10° temperature quotient or Q10 value. In general, enzymes have Q10
values near 2 that is, an increase in temperature of 10°C within the tolerance
range of the enzyme results in a doubling of activity.

– Survival and Death of Microorganisms at High and Low Temperatures Inability to

grow at a particular temperature does not necessarily lead to the death of a
microorganism. The temperature tolerance of endospores, cysts, and other resting
stages is well known, and even vegetative cells can survive for periods of time at
temperatures outside their active growth range. Survival is often greatest at temperatures
below the organism's growth range. Thermophiles are frequently isolated from
Antarctic soils, for example (Horowitz et al. 1972).
– Although microorganisms may survive low temperatures, their growth rates and
metabolic activities decline below the optimal temperature. In the microbial ecology of
foods, this fact is the basis of preservation and increasing shelf life of products by
freezing or refrigeration (Derosier 1970). Many microorganisms in natural soil and
aquatic habitats exhibit lower growth rates and metabolic activities during winter when
temperatures are low. Temperatures above the growth range of the organism,
however, frequently result in death of the organism. Some microorganisms produce
resistant resting stages, such as bacterial endospores and sclerotia of fungi, that permit
survival at elevated temperatures at which vegetative cells of that organism would not
survive. Even such resistant resting stages as the bacterial endospore have upper
temperature limits for survival.
– The fact that elevated temperd'tiires kill microorganisms is used in the preservation of
many food products and the heat sterilization of various items. In the case of food
products, the main concern is with the relatively resistant organisms that can cause
spoilage and disease (Frazier and Westhoff 1978). The resistance of organisms to
elevated temperatures is expressed as the thermal death time (TDT), the time required
at a particular temperature to kill a specified number of organisms. Examples of thermal
death times for several bacteria, including endospore formers, are listed in Table 8.5. As
the TDT is not absolute but depends on the initial numbers of microorganisms present,
Table 8.5 and similar TDT tables are based on a 1012 (12 log cycle) reduction in
 numbers. In the practical sense, a 1012 reduction ensures "no survivors" in the heat-
treated sample. The food industry uses TDT numbers to determine the temperature and
time period necessary to sterilize food products. Pasteurization is a milder treatment that
only reduces the microbial numbers and thus extends the shelf life of food.

– Table 8.5. Approximate thermal death times for bacteria

Time (min) Temperature (°C)

Organisms

Escherichia coli 20-30 57

Staphylococcus aureus 19 60
Bacillus subtilis (spores) 50-200 100

Clostridium botulimum 100-330 100

(spores)
– Source: Frazier and Westhoff 1978.

– The change in enzyme activity caused by a 10°C rise is known as the 10°
temperature quotient or Q10 value. In general, enzymes have Q10 values near 2 -
that is, an increase in temperature of 10°C within the tolerance range of the enzyme
results in a doubling of activity. Table 8.6 shows examples of some Q10 values for
microbial enzymes. In addition to Q10 values for individual enzymes, the ecologist must
consider the effects of temperature on the rates of metabolism by certain microbial
populations. Populations of sulfate reducers in salt marsh sediment, for example, have
been reported to have a Q10 of 3.5 for the reduction of sulfate (Abdollahi and Nedwell
1979). Thus sulfate reduction rates appear to be more sensitive to temperature change
than most other metabolic processes. It is possible that this is due to changes in
membrane fluidity other than a direct effect attributable to the enzyme.

– Table 8.6. Q10 values for some enzymes

Enzyme
Q10
Catalase 2.2 (10-20°C)
Maltase 1.9 (10-20°C)
Maltase 1.4 (20-30°C)
Succinic oxidase 2.0 (30-40°C)
Urease 1.8(20-30-C)

– Although biocatalytic reactions run faster at elevated than at mesophilic temperatures,

the growth rate (generation time) of thermophilic microorganisms is not faster and often
 is considerably slower than that of the mesophiles (Brock 1978). The reason for this
apparent paradox is the considerable amount of repair a thermophilic microorganism
needs to perform in order to replace thermally denatured enzymes and other cell
components. For biotechnological use, thermophiles are generally inferior to
mesophiles for production of single-cell proteins or antibiotics. They offer
advantages, however, if the aim is degradation and bulk reduction, as in composting. It
is also advantageous to run depolymerization, fermentation, and methanogenesis
reactions using thermophiles. In addition to speeding reaction rates, elevated reaction
temperatures reduce cooling costs and contamination problems. Thermophiles are
promising sources of heat-resistant enzymes such as proteases and lipases used in
laundry detergent formulations, amylases and cellulases used in producing oligomeric
sugar substrates for further fermentations, and other thermophilic enzymes used in
industry, reagent kits, or scientific research (Brock 1985; Edwards 1990; Ventosa and
Nieto 1995).