Histidine -> Histamine - Bacteria

From: John de Beer (jdebeer@cox.net)
Date: Sat Feb 23 2002 - 20:30:27 PST

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    Good Morning from San Diego

    I work with the tuna fleets and processing plants to help them preserve tuna
    and prevent the formation of histamine in the captured tunas.

    While I was giving a small seminar on ways to preserve freshness in tunas
    the following question occurred;

    What advantage does the bacteria gain by forming the enzyme to decarboxylate
    the free L-histidine molecule and form histamine?

    Is the histamine formed used as a metabolite for further processes for that
    bacterial colony?

    Or is the CO2 produced used as a further metabolite?

    Dose it depend on the particular bacteria species in question?

    The bacteria that are most often implicated are Morganella morganii,
    Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Hafnia alvei.

    Any help or light you can shed on these questions would help me a lot.

    Thanks for any further help.

    John De Beer

    jdebeer@cox.net

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