Membrane Damage and Metabolic Disruption as the Mechanisms of Linalool against Pseudomonas fragi: An Amino Acid Metabolomics Study

<i>Pseudomonas fragi</i> (<i>P. fragi</i>) is usually detected in low-temperature meat products, and seriously threatens food safety and human health. Therefore, the study investigated the antibacterial mechanism of linalool against <i>P. fragi</i> from membrane damage and metabolic disruption. Results from field-emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that linalool damage membrane integrity increases surface shrinkage and roughness. According to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra results, the components in the membrane underwent significant changes, including nucleic acid leakage, carbohydrate production, protein denaturation and modification, and fatty acid content reduction. The data obtained from amino acid metabolomics indicated that linalool caused excessive synthesis and metabolism of specific amino acids, particularly tryptophan metabolism and arginine biosynthesis. The reduced activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), and phosphofructokinase (PFK) suggested that linalool impair the respiratory chain and energy metabolism. Meanwhile, genes encoding the above enzymes were differentially expressed, with <i>pfkB</i> overexpression and <i>zwf</i> and <i>mqo</i> downregulation. Furthermore, molecular docking revealed that linalool can interact with the amino acid residues of G6DPH, MDH and PFK through hydrogen bonds. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the mechanism of linalool against <i>P. fragi</i> may involve cell membrane damage (structure and morphology), disturbance of energy metabolism (TCA cycle, EMP and HMP pathway) and amino acid metabolism (cysteine, glutamic acid and citrulline). These findings contribute to the development of linalool as a promising antibacterial agent in response to the food security challenge.