Hydrogen sulfide inhibits the growth of Escherichia coli through oxidative damage.

Many studies have shown that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is both detrimental and beneficial to animals and plants, whereas its effect on bacteria is not fully understood. Here, we report that H2S, released by sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), significantly inhibits the growth of Escherichia coli in a dose-dependent manner. Further studies have shown that H2S treatment stimulates the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreases glutathione (GSH) levels in E. coli, resulting in lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. H2S also inhibits the antioxidative enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR) and induces the response of the SoxRS and OxyR regulons in E. coli. Moreover, pretreatment with the antioxidant ascorbic acid (AsA) could effectively prevent H2S-induced toxicity in E. coli. Taken together, our results indicate that H2S exhibits an antibacterial effect on E. coli through oxidative damage and suggest a possible application for H2S in water and food processing.

Hydrogen Sulfide Alleviates Postharvest Senescence of Grape by Modulating the Antioxidant Defenses.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been identified as an important gaseous signal in plants. Here, we investigated the mechanism of H2S in alleviating postharvest senescence and rotting of Kyoho grape. Exogenous application of H2S released from 1.0 mM NaHS remarkably decreased the rotting and threshing rate of grape berries. H2S application also prevented the weight loss in grape clusters and inhibited the decreases in firmness, soluble solids, and titratable acidity in grape pulp during postharvest storage. The data of chlorophyll and carotenoid content suggested the role of H2S in preventing chlorophyll breakdown and carotenoid accumulation in both grape rachis and pulp. In comparison to water control, exogenous H2S application maintained significantly higher levels of ascorbic acid and flavonoid and total phenolics and reducing sugar and soluble protein in grape pulp. Meanwhile, H2S significantly reduced the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and superoxide anion (O2 (∙-)) in grape pulp. Further investigations showed that H2S enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) and decreased those of lipoxygenase (LOX) in both grape peels and pulp. In all, we provided strong evidence that H2S effectively alleviated postharvest senescence and rotting of Kyoho grape by modulating antioxidant enzymes and attenuating lipid peroxidation.

An antifungal role of hydrogen sulfide on the postharvest pathogens Aspergillus niger and Penicillium italicum.

In this research, the antifungal role of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the postharvest pathogens Aspergillus niger and Penicillium italicum growing on fruits and under culture conditions on defined media was investigated. Our results show that H2S, released by sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) effectively reduced the postharvest decay of fruits induced by A. niger and P. italicum. Furthermore, H2S inhibited spore germination, germ tube elongation, mycelial growth, and produced abnormal mycelial contractions when the fungi were grown on defined media in Petri plates. Further studies showed that H2S could cause an increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in A. niger. In accordance with this observation we show that enzyme activities and the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) genes in A. niger treated with H2S were lower than those in control. Moreover, H2S also significantly inhibited the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhizopus oryzae, the human pathogen Candida albicans, and several food-borne bacteria. We also found that short time exposure of H2S showed a microbicidal role rather than just inhibiting the growth of microbes. Taken together, this study suggests the potential value of H2S in reducing postharvest loss and food spoilage caused by microbe propagation.