Research progress on the inhibitory effect and antibacterial mechanism of plant essential oils against Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive brachy bacteria that can contaminate food during production, processing and storage, leading to potential food safety issues and listeriosis. The disease can cause gastroenteritis, sepsis, meningitis, abortion and even death, with a mortality rate of 20%-30%, seriously threatening public health and food safety. In recent years, plant essential oils have been known as natural food preservatives due to their non-toxic and harmless advantages and natural ingredients, and are a research hotspot for inhibiting Listeria monocytogenes. The research on the inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by plant essential oils mainly focuses on the evaluation of antibacterial effect, the analysis of antibacterial mechanism and its application effect in food, but the indepth analysis of its antibacterial mechanism is still insufficient. This review systematically discusses the biological characteristics and pathogenesis of Listeria monocytogenes, and clarifies the central role of key virulence factors in bacterial adhesion, invasion, proliferation and other pathogenic links. The inhibitory activity of different plant essential oils against Listeria monocytogenes and their application status in the food industry were summarized, and the potential mechanism of plant essential oils to inhibit Listeria monocytogenes was analyzed. It was clarified that it could play a bacteriostatic effect by destroying cell membrane structure, blocking nucleic acid and protein synthesis, interfering with metabolic pathways, and regulating the expression of virulence factors. At the same time, the application results of transcriptomics technology in this field are summarized for the above-mentioned antibacterial mechanisms, and its role in elucidating the antibacterial mechanism at the molecular level is emphasized, and the unique advantages of this technology in research and application are demonstrated. It provides a theoretical reference for the subsequent development of efficient and safe natural food preservatives and the industrial application of plant essential oils in the field of food safety.