Odor fingerprinting of Listeria monocytogenes recognized by SPME-GC-MS and E-nose

Microorganisms can produce species-specific microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs), or odor compounds, which can be characterized by odor fingerprinting. The objective of this study was to characterize the odor fingerprint of Listeria monocytogenes. Solid-phase microextraction - gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) and electronic nose (E-nose) were used to recognize the MVOCs of L. monocytogenes in pure culture medium. The main MVOCs of L. monocytogenes were identified by SPME-GC-MS analysis as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, alkanes, and heterocyclics, among which the relative peak area of one compound, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, increased along with the growth of L. monocytogenes. The odor fingerprint of L. monocytogenes at different growth stages could be clearly discriminated by E-nose. In addition, E-nose signals had a very good linear relationship with the concentration of this bacterium (R-2 = 0.9937). Our study may help to establish the analysis of the odor fingerprint of microorganisms as a potential routine method in microbiology.