Transcriptomic responses of foodborne pathogens to the food matrix

Increasing evidence shows that foodborne pathogens have become both safety and economic concerns during food production, processing, distribution, storage, and consumption and have been demonstrated to be responsible for numerous disease outbreaks and food recalls. It is critical to determine how the food matrix may alter bacterial behaviors, especially survival, growth, biofilm, virulence, and antibiotic resistance. The systems and compounds in food matrices inevitably regulate specific genes and pathways of bacteria via integrated global metabolic responses, which have been demonstrated in both phenotypic and transcriptomic studies. This review presents an overview of the transcriptomic responses of pathogens to food matrices. In addition, the role of small non-coding RNA in the regulation of pathogenic behavior was summarized. This work may assist in the investigation of the interaction of microorganisms with the growth matrix or their surroundings and in the development of targeted strategies to eliminate pathogens from the food supply chains.